Li Ka Shing Prizes for the best MPhil thesis in the Faculties of Arts,Architecture, Business & Economics, Education, Law and SocialSciences, 2006-2007 / published_or_final_version / abstract / Social Work and Social Administration / Master / Master of Philosophy

No description available.

Bakgrund: Suicid är ett folkhälsoproblem och i Sverige suiciderar cirka 1400 människor varje år. Sorgen efter en närståendes suicid leder till en kris och ett lidande för de anhöriga. Sjuksköterskans roll i den vårdande relationen blir att bekräfta dessa känslor och upplevelser hos den anhöriga. Syfte: Beskriva anhörigas upplevelser om hur lidandet kan lindras i sorgen efter en närståendes suicid. Metod: Studien är en kvalitativ analys av berättelser där tre självbiografier, tre antologier samt en rapport analyserades utifrån ett omvårdnadsperspektiv. Resultat: Resultatet visade tre kategorier med utgångspunkt från att lindra de anhörigas lidande. Att ta avsked av den döde visade sig vara viktigt i sorgeprocessen men att ändå vara lyhörd för individens val var viktigt. De anhöriga upplevde en unik känsla i sorgen efter en närståendes suicid och hade ett stort behov av att bli bekräftade i detta från omgivningen. Till sist hade de anhöriga skiftande behov av stöd i att leva vidare som kunde innefatta både läkemedelsbehandling, samtalsstöd och hjälp i det vardagliga. Slutsats: Genom resultatet kan studien belysa sjuksköterskans roll i den vårdande relationen som är att se och bekräfta de anhöriga som unika individer och fungera som koordinator gentemot den anhöriga med övriga hälso- och sjukvården. / Background: Suicide is a public health problem and each year about 1,400 people commit suicide in Sweden. The grief after a loved one's suicide leads to a crisis and suffering of the survivors. The nurse's role in the caring relationship is to confirm the survivor’s feelings and experiences. Purpose: Describe suicide survivors’ experiences of how suffering can be alleviated after a loved one's suicide. Method: The study is a qualitative analysis of three autobiographies, three anthologies and a report, which were analyzed from a nursing perspective. Results: The result showed that saying goodbye to the deceased was important in the grieving process but also sensitivity to each survivor’s choice was paramount. Survivors experienced a unique feeling of grief after a loved one’s suicide and had a great need to be confirmed in this. Finally, the survivors had varying needs of support in order to continue living, which could include medical treatment, counseling or assistance in the everyday life. Conclusion: The results highlight the nurse's role in the caring relationship where acknowledging the survivors as unique individuals and coordinating their needs where among the nurse’s main tasks.

Titel: Föräldrars upplevelse av sitt barns suicid: En litteraturstudieBakgrund: Suicid är ur ett folkhälsoperspektiv ett stort problem. Bland ungdomar har antalet suicid inte minskat något senaste åren och det finns en bristande kunskap hos vårdpersonal gällande omhändertagandet av efterlevande anhöriga. Syfte: Syftet med denna litteraturstudie var att beskriva föräldrars upplevelse av sitt barns suicid.Metod: Denna litteraturstudie är gjord utav åtta analyserade och sammanställda kvalitativa artiklar.Resultat: Resultatet delades in i fyra kategorier och tretton subkategorier. De tre kategorierna var: Föräldrarnas upplevelse av sorgen, Faktorer som kan ge en positiv inverkan på sorgeprocessen, Omgivningens betydelse i sorgeprocessen, Föräldrarnas behov av stöd.Konklusion: Känslan av sorg var djup, långvarig och varierade beroende på mental förberedelse. Resultatet visade också på att bevara minnet av sitt barn var viktigt för sorgeprocessen. Att gå tillbaka till arbetet var en problematisk händelse i sorgen och det ledde ofta till att föräldrarna isolerade sig på arbetet. Att få stöd tidigt i sorgen kunde underlätta deras lidande. / Title: Parents’ experience of their child’s suicide: A literature study.Background: Suicide is, from a public health perspective, a major problem. The number of suicide has not declined in the last few years and there is a lack of knowledge among health professionals regarding the care of suicide survivors.Aim: The aim of this study was to describe parents’ experience of their child’s suicide.Methods: This study is made out of eight analyzed and compiled qualitative articles.Results: The result was divided into four categories and thirteen subcategories. The four categories were: Parents' experience of grief, Factors that may give a positive effect on the grief, The surroundings effect on the grieving process and Parents’ need for support.Conclusion: The feeling of grief was deep, long-lasting and varied depending on the mental preparation. The results also showed that preserving the memory of their child was important for the grieving process. Going back to work was an problematic event during the grief and it often led to parents isolating themselves at work. Getting support early in the mourning could ease their suffering.Keywords: Parents, bereavement, child, suicide.

Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att öka kunskapen om betydelsen av att som äldre bearbeta sin sorg i grupp efter att ha mist en livskamrat. Detta har uppnåtts genom att ta del av erfarenheter från före detta deltagare i Svenska kyrkans sorgegrupper. Som forskningsdesign har en kvalitativ deskriptiv ansats valts, denna omfattades av semistrukturerade intervjuer med sju personer, två män och fem kvinnor i åldrarna 67 till 81 år. Materialet har sedan analyserats genom meningskategorisering med tematisering som följd. Resultatet visar att det mest betydande med att bearbeta sin sorg i grupp har varit gemenskapen som innefattar möjligheten att få träffa, samtala och bekräftas av personer i samma situation. Det talas även om att en ömsesidig hjälp har uppstått i gruppen där deltagarna beskriver hur de själva bidragit genom att lyssna och dela med sig. Resultatet visar även att sorgen är unik för varje person. Hur sorgen hanteras beror till stor del på hur man är som person och hur ens sociala nätverk ser ut. Resultatet visar också att professionellt stöd i form av exempelvis de gruppledare som förekommer i studien eller kuratorskontakt endast fungerar som ett teoretiskt komplement och kan inte jämföras med den förståelse som gruppdeltagarna har genom att dela samma livserfarenhet. Studien belyser är att det inte finns något sätt att helt förbereda sig inför dödsfallet av en nära anhörig, men att möjligheten till sorgestöd när det otänkbara inträffat är en viktig del för att ta sig ur den svåraste perioden därefter.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between children’s grief and their perceptions of God by utilizing children’s drawings. This research was conducted by partnering with Christian counselors and teachers who interviewed two groups of children to collect data. Counselors interviewed the experimental group of children who were between the ages of 6-12 and had experienced the death of an immediate family member. Teachers interviewed the control group of children who were between the ages of 6-12 and had not experienced the death of an immediate family member. Both groups were asked specific questions in efforts to ascertain if children in the midst of grief perceived God differently. A multilevel triangulation design was used in this study with the first phase being qualitative and the second quantitative. In phase one, both the experimental group and control group of children were each interviewed and asked to respond to these questions by drawing their answers. Upon completion of the drawings, each child was asked a series of follow-up questions in efforts to provide explanations for their drawings. Select demographic information was also collected as a part of the interview process. Phase 2 utilized a quantitative approach. A panel of raters was assigned with the task of looking for specified, coded patterns or images in each child’s drawn or verbal response. Each panel member received a description of characteristics for which to look, as well as a Thurstone scale to assess the frequency of the characteristics. Upon evaluation, this data was sent back to the researcher for anecdotal analysis. The qualitative data was collected and the results were analyzed utilizing two statistical analyses methods including a Mann-Whitney test and a four-way ANOVA. While the Mann-Whitney was used to determine the correlation between death and a child’s perception of God, the ANOVA was performed to analyze the role demographics played in children’s perception of God after they experienced a parental or sibling death. Findings from the analyses are discussed in terms of implications for future research as well as possible applications for the research.

The aim of this paper was to examine how grief affects the physical, social, psychological and spiritual dimensions according to Van Deurzen’s existential psychology theory, and how grief is handled according to Parks’ meaning-system theory. The human being is controlled, according to Van Deurzen, by physical, psychological, social and spiritual forces, also called dimensions. These forces are challenged when we experience a crisis. The search for meaning is important to humanbeings according to Park. Religion can offer a meaning-system that helps people manage crisis. The empirical study involved a qualitative approach with a primarily theory-driven analysis. Eight semistructured interviews were conducted with mourners that had lost their spouses and had attended a grief group organized by the local parish. The results showed that grief affected the respondents’ different aforementioned dimensions in different ways. Not all respondents’ dimensions were affected by grief. In some cases there was no change. The results showed above all that many respondents’ developed the social dimension despite the loneliness they felt after their spouse’s death. The results indicated that several respondents’ used religion as a meaning-system, and for others ‘the feeling of being needed’ was also of importance as a meaning-system. Several respondents expressed the significance of attending the local parish grief group as providing a positive impact on how they were able to cope with their grief. Suggestions for future research are provided.

The developmental stage of emerging adulthood often poses substantial challenges that negatively impact bereavement experiences (Schultz, 2007; Tanner & Arnett, 2009). Some emerging adults may be even more at risk for adverse grief outcomes due to individual differences such as gender and ethnicity, but very few studies have investigated these variables within the population. We addressed this gap in the literature by investigating the influence of gender and ethnicity on college students’ bereavement experiences using the Hogan Grief Reaction Checklist (HGRC; Hogan, Greenfield, & Schmidt, 2001) Results indicates a significant relationship between ethnicity and levels of personal growth, use of religious coping, and type of loss. The present study found no clinically significant differences in male and female college student bereavement characteristics.

The current study used a three-phase mixed-methods design to produce a new self-report measure of the strategies that college students use to cope with the death of a loved-one. College students are commonly bereaved and may be in the process of undergoing important developmental tasks related to emerging adulthood. However, the application of grief-specific stress-and-coping theories (i.e., the Dual Process Model of Coping with Bereavement) to this population has been hampered by measurement issues. The current study aimed to address the flaws asserted above through the use of a mixed-methods scale development design. To this end, the researcher made use of the discussion component of a bereavement-focused special topics course to refine a focus-group facilitation guide and generate a preliminary list of content domains. In Study 1, three bereaved students participated in a formal focus-group. Three graduate-level bereavement researchers drew from the qualitative data available from the Pilot Study and Study 1 to develop a pool of 192 items for use in quantitative analysis. In Study 2, these items were administered to a sample of 700 bereaved undergraduates. Exploratory and Confirmatory factor analyses suggested that a 5-factor model was the best fit for the data. Results suggest that bereaved students use a variety of strategies when coping with bereavement, including using drugs and alcohol, seeking support from others, accessing religious faith, exploring new relationships and identities, and experiencing depression symptoms. Preliminary support was provided for the validity of a 26-item coping strategies measure with five subscales named the GCOPE.

Bereavement is an important research area as it can result in grief reactions that lead to serious psychological and health consequences, particularly for the at-risk group of emerging adults (Arnett, 2000; Balk, Walker, & Baker, 2010; Fisher, Murray, & Frazer, 1985; Stroebe, Schut, & Stroebe, 2007). Expressive writing is a well-researched intervention for trauma and adjustment, yet research repeatedly has revealed null results with the classic Pennebaker paradigm as a bereavement intervention (Stroebe et al., 2002; Stroebe, Schut, & Stroebe, 2006). It may be premature, however, to conclude expressive writing is ineffective for the bereaved due to limitations in extant research. For example, Pennebaker’s paradigm is based on the premise that participants freely choose the stressful topic to write about, whereas expressive writing bereavement studies have required participants to write about their loss (Collison & Gramling, manuscript in preparation). The present study reports on data from a larger study (Konig, Eonta, Dyal, & Vrana, 2014; N=246) that assessed psychological and physiological outcomes in college students who wrote about a traumatic stressor using Pennebaker’s paradigm. This provided the opportunity to rigorously test it with bereavement and compare death loss to other forms of trauma. Analyses examined the impact of expressive writing with the bereaved who freely identified death loss as the traumatic stressor (n=69) and were randomly assigned to either emotional disclosure or control writing on outcome measures of physical symptoms (PILL), event-related distress (DTS), and depression (CES-D). Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC; Pennebaker, Mayne, & Francis, 1997) and Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA; Campbell & Pennebaker, 2003) results were also used to compare these groups. Exploratory analyses investigated potential differences between the bereaved and those who endorsed a non-bereavement trauma (“other trauma”; n=71) using outcome measures and text analytic techniques (i.e., PILL, DTS, CES-D; LIWC, LSA). Results were consistent with findings from previous expressive writing studies with the bereaved, in that the intervention resulted in no detectable benefits when compared with control writing. No remarkable differences between the bereaved and “other trauma” participants emerged. Researchers’ time may be better spent examining more clinically relevant writing exercises for bereavement interventions.