Syftet med studien är att, genom en deskriptiv metod, beskriva hur barn reagerar vid föräldrars plötsliga och oväntade dödsfall, vilka behov av stöd dessa barn har samt vad obearbetad sorg kan leda till bland barn. Ett plötsligt och oväntat dödsfall hos en förälder ses som en av de mest stressfulla och traumatiska upplevelse som barn och deras familjer kan tänkas gå igenom. Resultatet visar att samtliga barn i studien uppvisar starka känsloreaktioner på olika sätt efter föräldrarnas plötsliga och oväntade dödsfall, i form av overklighetskänslor och misstro, rädsla, ansvarstagande, skuldkänslor, ilska och irritabilitet samt saknad och ledsenhet, oavsett hur dödsfallet inträffat. Gemensamt för barn som förlorat en förälder är att sorgen efter den döde är en gemensam angelägenhet med viktiga personer i omgivningen. Om den efterlevande föräldern, och andra för barnet betydelsefulla personer, inte klarar av att låta barnet uttrycka sin sorg är det av vikt för barnet att få träffa utomstående professionella och barn som varit med om liknande upplevelser, för att ges möjlighet att hantera och bearbeta det inträffade. Om barn inte ges möjlighet att uttrycka sin sorg löper de en risk att utveckla framtida psykiska och fysiska besvär. / The aim of the study is to, through a descriptive methodology, describe how children react to a parent’s sudden and unexpected death, what needs of support these children have and what unprocessed grief can cause among children. A sudden and unexpected death of a parent is seen as one of the most stressful and traumatic experiences that children and their families are likely to go through. The result shows that all of the children in the study experienced strong emotional reactions in different ways after their parent’s sudden and unexpected death, in the shape of feelings of unreality and disbelief, fear, increased responsibility, guilt, anger and irritability and loss and sadness, regardless of how the death occurred. Common for children who have lost one parent is that mourning the dead is a common concern with important people in their surroundings. If the surviving parents, and other important people to the child, are unable to let the child express its grief, it is important for the child to get in contact with professionals and children who have experiences similar experiences, to be able to manage and process the occurred. If children are not given the opportunity to express their grief they are at risk of developing future mental and physical disorders.

The aim of this study was to review six professionals supporters work to support adolescents in grief, and if this support is the kind of support adolescents actually need. These professional supporters are two hospital social workers, two hospice social workers and two support group leaders. The questions included in the work are; How does the professional support look like for adolescents aged 12-18, who has lost a parent in cancer? Are the adolescents getting the support they need from these professionals? The study is based on qualitative interviews based on interview guides, which where then analyzed thematically and linked to previous research and grief theory. The result indicate that adolescents may need different forms of support when their parent is dying or has died. These types of social support can be; to get information about the illness, information about what sorrow is, and at the same time, to be involved in the processes of the parents illness. Furthermore, that there is an open communication with the parent in the family about the incident. This is so that the adolescents should feel that it can open up the thoughts and feelings and feel supported by the parents, and feeling involved in what happens. Many adolescents have a difficulty in talking about emotions and thoughts in grief, and then it is important that they can be talking about them so that they can move on in the sadness processing. This can also adolescents feel that it needs thru the other social network such as relatives and friends. These various forms of social support was offered to the adolescents by the professionals. However, the result indicate that they are not so receptive in getting this support. It may depend on how much time the adolescents have to prepare themselves that the parent will die. There was generally less time for this in the hospital, but more on hospice. At most, they where receptive in support groups, where they could share their experience among like-minded adolescents. Some adolescents where also less receptive for support because of the difficulty to express their emotion and thoughts or because that they where not ready yet to grief, when the support was offered to them by professionals.

Genom att jämföra två bilderböcker undersöker det här arbetet hur döden skildras i barnlitteratur. Den kvalitativa litteraturanalysen fokuserar på hur text och bild skildrar döden och huvudkaraktärens sorg, samt vilka budskap illustrationerna förmedlar. Böckerna som undersöks är ROY av Gro Dahle och Svein Nyhus som publicerades 2009 samt Alla döda små djur av Ulf Nilsson och Eva Eriksson som publicerades 2006. Utifrån tidigare forskning om barn i sorg och sorgebearbetning redovisas hur man som pedagog/lärare kan möta dessa barn. Med hjälp av analysverktyg för text och bild presenteras vidare hur dessa böcker kan användas för att bearbeta frågor och funderingar som elever har. Sammanfattningsvis presenteras hur böckerna kan användas i undervisning, genom boksamtal. / By comparing two picture books, this study examines how death is portrayed in children´s literature. The literature analysis focuses on how text and image depict death and the main characters grief, as well as what message the illustrations convey. The books that will be analysed are ROY by Gro Dahle and Svein Nyhus, which was published in 2009 and All dead small animals by Ulf Nilsson and Eva Eriksson, which was published in 2006. The study will show ways to teach children in grief, based on previous research on children in grief and sorrow processing. And with help from analysis tools, discusses how the books can be used in teaching, through book calls.