Sixty-six people who had recently experienced the death of a parent or a spouse completed a questionnaire packet to assess their current grief symptomatology and some characteristics of the relationships within their family. Participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire 4-5 weeks after the death and then again six months later. The present study compared two competing models to explain whether the grief process affects the characteristics of relationships within the family system or that family characteristics affect the experienced grief symptoms.

Grief is a life changing and universal experience, expressed through individual sets of responses and behaviours. Society and health workers’ interpretation and beliefs regarding grief and bereavement have changed throughout the decades. This is a continually evolving process. As we move into a new century, so too does grief move into a new era where a new postmodern paradigm is arising. We are thus deviating away from stage theories that are time limited, linear and predictable. Emphasis in this new wave of thought is placed upon grief as an oscillating and highly unique experience, one that encourages a continuation of a bond and lifetime relationship with the deceased. This current qualitative study explores the new phenomenon in relation to both the grief process and bereavement support programs, by extensively reviewing the literature and analysing data from a number of interviews with the bereaved. Furthermore the supports offered by society, with particular focus on a Melbourne Community Bereavement Follow Up Program, are reviewed. By observing and discussing expressions of grief it was found, although unique and varying, some patterns or common behaviors emerged. Supports and comforts that assisted the bereaved are explored. Issues, including inappropriate comments and problems with bureaucratic departments, are also developed and discussed. There is an emphasis placed upon the need of health care staff and the community in general to increase their understanding of the grief process and bereavement support, so as to enhance care and practice when working with people who have suffered loss.

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This qualitative study examines the migratory experience of immigrant Latina married women. It looks at their experience from both an individual and a systemic perspective. It compares their experience to that of grief due to bereavement using Parkes' theory of the grief process. This research also presents findings as to the effects of migration on the marital system. Analysis of interview data provided by 12 Latin American women who resided in the United States ranging from 2 years to 10 years, allowed a comparison between the experience of these women and the grief process theory. The findings of the study indicate that although there are some slight differences between grieving a deceased person and grieving the loss of a country, the similarities predominate. The data gathered was divided into the categories of initial mixed-emotions, searching, anger, disorganization and despair, recovery. Furthermore, the impact of immigration on the marital dyad was analyzed. The interviewees reported an increase in marital argument during the first stages of immigration with a tendency to decrease as time lapses. Overall, the interviewees identified their marital relationship as being stronger than prior to coming to the United States.

This study sets out to demonstrate the usefulness of cybernetic description for grief therapy, specifically the field parental loss of a child. This paradigm was used to facilitate an alternate mode of conceptualisation, one engendering a more encompassing, aesthetic view. The following core cybernetic concepts were used: punctuation, complementarity, pattern and metapattern forming the framework of cybernetic description as applied. A literature study attempting to merge the gestalt of cybernetic description with that of bereavement theory, specifically that pertaining to the parental loss of a child, is presented. A single case study is described illustrating how cybernetic description is applied to the grief narrative. Arising out of this, the implications of cybernetic description for the field of grief and social work in general are outlined. / Social Work / M.A. (Social Science (Mental Health))

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T20:40:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Julia Schmidt Maso.pdf: 823462 bytes, checksum: c0425a5296506cda737f70dc32af1dc7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-05-28 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / The objective of this study is to understand and describe the difficulties of a person with hemiplegia as a consequence of a CVA (Cerebrovascular Accident), commonly known as stroke, and the process of symbolic grief of the body and the sequels. The emotional repercussion due to physical limitations acts significantly on the social, economical and emotional scope of the individual, causing disorganization to his/her life. To face these changes, the person has to count on his/her internal and external resources, which will or will not enable the elaboration of the process of the symbolic grief. A qualitative study was carried out based on the Theory of Attachment by John Bowlby with the participation of four hemiplegic adult patients. The data collection included a semi-oriented interview to describe and analyze the significance of the interrelation of himeplegia, between the body representation and the subjectivity of each person. The information arisen from qualitative analysis procedures was discussed and the conclusion was that it is difficult to measure, validate and recognize the existence of losses caused by the disease and the gradual appropriation of reality. The physical rehabilitation aiming at independence is evaluated according to the gain in life quality of the participants. However, mechanisms of defense, as denial or non acceptance, demonstrate the difficulty to adapt to a new reality. According to the results, we conclude that it is important to identify the expectations of the handicapped person, the significance he/she attributed to the disease and to his/her himeplegia. This survey supports the need to investigate the repercussion of the CVA in general to obtain a better result from the rehabilitation process / Este estudo teve como objetivo compreender e descrever a problemática da pessoa portadora de hemiplegia por Acidente Vascular Cerebral (AVC) e o processo de luto simbólico pelo corpo com sequelas. As repercussões emocionais decorrentes das limitações físicas atuam de modo significativo no âmbito social, econômico e emocional do indivíduo, provocando uma desorganização em sua vida. Para o enfrentamento destas mudanças, a pessoa terá de contar com os seus recursos internos e externos, que possibilitarão ou não a elaboração do processo de luto simbólico. Foi realizado um estudo qualitativo embasado na Teoria do Apego de John Bowlby, do qual participaram quatro pacientes adultos portadores de hemiplegia. A coleta de dados incluiu a realização de uma entrevista semidirigida para descrever e analisar o significado da interrelação entre hemiplegia, representação do corpo e subjetividade para cada pessoa. A partir de procedimentos de análise qualitativa, as informações foram discutidas e revelou-se a dificuldade em validar e reconhecer a existência de perdas provocadas pela doença, e a gradual apropriação da realidade. A melhora física, como a conquista da independência, é avaliada pelo ganho na qualidade de vida dos participantes. Entretanto, mecanismos de defesa como a negação apontam para a dificuldade de adaptarem-se à nova realidade. Diante dos resultados encontrados, concluiu-se ser importante identificar as expectativas da pessoa portadora da deficiência e os significados atribuídos à experiência de adoecer e tornar-se hemiplégico. Esta pesquisa sustenta a necessidade de se investigar as repercussões do AVC de um modo global, para a obtenção de um melhor resultado no processo de reabilitação

This study sets out to demonstrate the usefulness of cybernetic description for grief therapy, specifically the field parental loss of a child. This paradigm was used to facilitate an alternate mode of conceptualisation, one engendering a more encompassing, aesthetic view. The following core cybernetic concepts were used: punctuation, complementarity, pattern and metapattern forming the framework of cybernetic description as applied. A literature study attempting to merge the gestalt of cybernetic description with that of bereavement theory, specifically that pertaining to the parental loss of a child, is presented. A single case study is described illustrating how cybernetic description is applied to the grief narrative. Arising out of this, the implications of cybernetic description for the field of grief and social work in general are outlined. / Social Work / M.A. (Social Science (Mental Health))

The study of the loss of a sibling in mainstream bereavement literature has been largely neglected in psychology. This sentiment has often, and still continues, to be expressed by those outside and within the psychological field. The focus in the childhood bereavement literature has been on the loss of a parent and, in adulthood, on the loss of a child or of a spouse. Despite the growing interest in sibling loss in more recent times (since the 1980s), more specifically in childhood and adolescent sibling loss, in reality bereaved siblings remain ‘forgotten’ and even marginalised. The present study concerned the experience of the loss of a brother or sister in young adulthood, an area that has been largely neglected. The phenomenon was explored using a qualitative approach and employing the empirical phenomenological psychological research method as articulated by Amedeo Giorgi. In-depth interviews with three research participants who were asked to describe their experience of the loss of their sibling were used to gather the data. The emphasis was on discovery, on allowing the siblings to speak for themselves by posing an open-ended question rather than focusing on isolated aspects of the loss experience. The general psychological structure revealed that the experience of the loss of a brother or sister evolves over time and cannot meaningfully be understood as an event that can be contained within a specified moment in time. The experience is a fundamentally relational and paradoxical phenomenon and is reflective of the context in which it occurs. With the loss, the sibling's whole world changes in a very radical way. It is a triple loss: the loss of the brother or sister, the loss of the family unit and the 'loss' of the parents as the siblings had known them. Initially bereaved siblings put aside their grief in an attempt to protect parents and significant others. A conspiracy of silence evolves which conceals their pain and as they continue with life as ‘normal’ there is a deceptive belief of ‘coping well’, of personal stability. Yet internally the bereaved sibling struggles with intense emotions and a lonely struggle ensues. The lack of acknowledgement of the sibling’s grief by others compounds the sense of isolation and alienation and he/she begins to feel like an “implicated alien”, a participant-spectator; part-of and also apart-from the grief situation. Finding a safe space to grieve is critical to bereaved siblings and when this is possible they are able to let go of their deep emotions and grieve the loss of their brother or sister. The loss of a sibling is the experience of losing various parts of the self and needing to reclaim and reintegrate self. The main contribution of this study can be described as providing insights concerning the complex, multi-layered and multi-dimensional process of this loss experience to clinicians and others who care for bereaved siblings. Where the extant psychoanalytic and object relations literature is willing to concede that a sibling relationship exists, screened behind parental relationships, the present study reveals that siblings have a unique relationship of their own and that the loss of this relationship demands radical mourning. This study also reveals that death in the family is a fundamentally relational experience. The loss of a sibling and the loss of a child frequently overlap and tumble into each other and it is difficult to know for whom the sibling is grieving at any particular moment. Thus, grief over the loss of a brother or sister cannot be reduced to a purely intra-psychic or psycho-social process. The fact that sibling grief is not visible, does not mean that it does not exist. Clinicians and caregivers need to be aware of the existential chaos, the trauma, and the ambiguous and paradoxical nature of the sorrow experienced by a sibling-who-loses-a-sibling. Future research into the loss of a brother or sister beyond young and middle adulthood, an area that has also largely been neglected, would constitute an important contribution to the psychology of siblings and of sibling loss/bereavement throughout the life cycle. Also significant would be the exploration of what happens in the sibling group following the loss of one of their members. / Thesis (PhD (Psychotherapy))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Psychology / unrestricted

Text in Afrikaans / The purpose of this study is to describe a gestalt technique for therapists who are involved with children who are experiencing loss. A play therepeutic approach is described and the underlying principles integrated and applied. In the first chapter the details of the the research methodology is described. In the second chapter the gestalt approach and how it relates to play therapeutic intervention is discussed. The third chapter is a literature study which describes the child's conceptualization of death. In the fourth chapter the technique which is developed is discusssed. This technique comprises six themes which are projected by way of instructions on a card. The child chooses a card during every session and it is therapeutically played out. There is a central theme of a treasure box, and a box is made to keep memorabilia of the deceased. The therapeutic intervention helps the child to make a treasure box of memories in their hearts. / Social work / M. Diac (Play Therapy)

Text in Afrikaans / The purpose of this study is to describe a gestalt technique for therapists who are involved with children who are experiencing loss. A play therepeutic approach is described and the underlying principles integrated and applied. In the first chapter the details of the the research methodology is described. In the second chapter the gestalt approach and how it relates to play therapeutic intervention is discussed. The third chapter is a literature study which describes the child's conceptualization of death. In the fourth chapter the technique which is developed is discusssed. This technique comprises six themes which are projected by way of instructions on a card. The child chooses a card during every session and it is therapeutically played out. There is a central theme of a treasure box, and a box is made to keep memorabilia of the deceased. The therapeutic intervention helps the child to make a treasure box of memories in their hearts. / Social work / M. Diac (Play Therapy)