The research on bereaved children’s outcomes is mixed, with the course of grief in young people prone to variation. Each child’s reaction following a loss is unique and should be considered in relation to psychological, academic, familial, social, environmental, and a number of additional factors. However, what is known is the important role that a supportive environment, stable adult figures, and early intervention may have for grieving youth. Teachers could be considered the first line of defense in identifying youth who are struggling with a loss, as they are significant adults with whom students have consistent contact on a daily basis. However, very little is known about the teacher’s role in the identification and support of grieving students. Therefore, the purpose of this project was to explore the teacher’s role in the grief support process at school, as well as teacher perceptions of childhood grief and the ways in which a teacher’s own early experiences with death may affect the provision of services. These factors were explored through the administration of an online mixed-methods survey to a random sample of 225 Kindergarten through 12th grade teachers in the state of Kentucky. The findings of this study were supportive of the hypothesis that having a bereaved student in class is nearly universal. The majority of teachers in this study reported receiving no training related to death and grief issues pre-service, with minimal training offered at the school level. Teacher perceptions about grief were not found to differ significantly overall between teachers of various school levels, counties, or early-bereaved status. Additional findings, limitations, implications, as well as directions for future research are discussed.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T20:37:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ligiane Pigatto de Castro.pdf: 8417863 bytes, checksum: 20e164ab05870cfc4fc7015ff57d46fc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-06-29 / Given the need to broaden the range of resources to equip the psychologist with intervention techniques in caring for bereaved children, this research aims to understand the implications of the inclusion of a co-psychotherapist dog in the psychodiagnostic process of this population. To this end, subsidies of the Attachment Theory, the literature on mourning and Animal Assisted Therapy were used. This is a research of qualitative and interpretive nature, based on a case study involving a child mourning the loss of his father after a period of one year. A semistructured interview with the mother, playful interviews with the child and a feedback interview with the mother were used as research tools. During the psychodiagnostic process a co-therapist dog was present in the therapeutic setting, and for the data analysis, a content analysis was performed. It was observed that the therapy duo, psychologist and co-therapist dog, assumes the attachment figure to the child. The co-therapist dog acted as a bond formation facilitator, a mediator of the relationship with the therapist and a catalyst for the psychodiagnostic assessment process. The presence of the co-therapist dog also worked as a motivational feature for the child in the psychodiagnostic process, since the animal's presence encouraged the child to return. Although the purpose of this research has been the development of a psychodiagnosis, its results can be extended to the care of bereaved children in the form of a bereavement psychotherapy, to the extent that the animal acts as a resource for coping in the context the child s loss / Dada a necessidade de ampliar o leque de recursos para instrumentalizar o psicólogo em técnicas de intervenção no atendimento a crianças enlutadas, esta pesquisa tem como objetivo compreender as implicações da inserção de um cão coterapeuta no processo psicodiagnóstico dessa população. Para tanto, foram utilizados subsídios da Teoria do Apego, da literatura sobre luto e da Terapia Assistida por Animais. Trata-se de uma pesquisa de natureza qualitativa e interpretativa, tendo como recurso um estudo de caso, que envolveu uma criança enlutada pela perda do pai após o período de um ano. Foram utilizados como instrumentos de investigação uma entrevista semiestruturada com a mãe, entrevistas lúdicas com a criança e uma entrevista devolutiva com a mãe. Durante o processo psicodiagnóstico esteve presente no setting terapêutico um cão coterapeuta e, na análise dos dados, foi realizada a análise de conteúdo. Observou-se que a dupla terapêutica, psicólogo e cão co-terapeuta, assume o papel de figura de apego para a criança. O cão co-terapeuta atuou como facilitador da formação do vínculo, mediador da relação com o terapeuta e catalisador do processo de avaliação psicodiagnóstica. A presença do cão co-terapeuta teve ainda caráter motivador para a criança no processo psicodiagnóstico, uma vez que a presença do animal incentivava a criança a retornar aos atendimentos. Embora a proposta desta pesquisa tenha sido o desenvolvimento de um psicodiagnóstico, seus resultados podem ser estendidos para o atendimento a crianças enlutadas no formato de uma psicoterapia de luto, na medida em que o animal atua como um recurso de enfrentamento no contexto de perdas da criança

This thesis explores the grieving process of a child, 6-year-old Maple, in a fictional way. As Maple attempts to carry on with daily life, such as attending first grade, after the death of her father, she experiences supernatural visions that cause her to consider what life and, consequently, death is. She also contends with her mother’s unwillingness to tell Maple why her father is dead, since her mother believes that keeping Maple shielded from the full truth is the best course of action. Maple struggles with sleeping issues, reoccurring dreams of her father, depression, lack of interest in formerly exciting activities, and the hallucinations. Through school, grief counseling, and life at home with her newly widowed mother, Maple often questions what really happened to her father and if she can still have a connection with him even though he’s gone, since she’s not old enough to grasp the permanence of death.

Experiencing the death of a family member at a young age is a confusing time for many children. Some clinicians have reported that parental death is the most stressful life event for children, and some studies have traced adults' mental health difficulties to unresolved childhood grief (Balk, 1983; Krahnstoever, 2006). Despite the hardships endured after a family member's death, some children manage to endure the pain of loss better than others because they are resilient due to a variety of protective factors (Masten, 2003; Bonanno, 2004). The present study examined the relationships between childhood grief, potential protective factors (social support, physical and academic self-concept, parent-child relationship quality) and adolescent outcomes (depression, social satisfaction, and academic achievement). Longitudinal data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care (SECC) was utilized in the present study. The sample consisted of 1,364 children, including 261 children who experienced the death of at least one family member in third or fifth grade. There were twelve moderation analyses that were used to examine buffering effects in the present study. Findings in the present study did not support the hypotheses that the psychosocial factors examined could be protective factors between experiencing the death of a family member and the adolescent outcomes examined. Results also revealed a significant main effect of social support, parent-child relationship quality, and physical and academic self-concept whereby those with higher levels of these psychosocial factors tend to have lower levels of depression. Having higher physical and academic self-concept was found to be positively associated with academic achievement. Contrary to what might be expected, a main effect of having higher levels of social support, parent-child relationship quality, physical self-concept, and academic self-concept were associated with lower levels of social satisfaction. Although the hypotheses were not supported in the present study, it is still important that the topic was examined and findings from the present study can guide future research in further exploring possible protective factors for children who experienced the death of a family member.