Thesis (M.A.)--Florida State University, 2006. / Advisor: Darryl Dickson-Carr, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of English. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 26, 2006). Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 103 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

PhD (Psychology) / Department of Psychology

No description available.

Varje år drabbas cirka 300 familjer i Sverige av någonting ingen familj bör få uppleva; att ett barn får en cancerdiagnos. Syftet med denna studie var att beskriva mödrars upplevelser efter att förlorat ett barn i cancer. En kvalitativ design valdes och textmaterialet samlades in utifrån fem bloggar. Studien utgick från en deduktiv ansats med Antonovskys salutogena modell, känsla av sammanhang (KASAM), som teoretisk utgångspunkt. För att komma år den underliggande innebörden användes latent tolkning. Resultatet delades in i tre huvudkategorier; upplevelsen av begriplighet, upplevelsen av hanterbarhet och upplevelsen av meningsfullhet. I resultatet framkom bland annat att bloggskrivandet och kvarlevande syskon stärkte graden av KASAM. Bristande KASAM upptäcktes hos mödrarna då de hade oförståelse om varför deras barn avlidit, vilket ledde till negativa känslor. Författarna anser att mödrarna i bloggstudien upplever en god KASAM med en ovanlig kombination av komponenterna. För att sjuksköterskan ska kunna göra det möjligt att hjälpa närstående att hantera, vad som kan vara en svår och förödande tid, krävs vidare utbildningar kring sorghantering. / Every year, about 300 families in Sweden faces something no family should have to experience; that a child is diagnosed with cancer. The purpose of this study was to describe mother’s experiences after having lost a child to cancer. A qualitative design was chosen and the text material was acquired from five different blogs. The study proceeded from a deductive approach, using Antonovsky´s salutogenic theory; Sense Of Coherence (SOC) as the theoretical base. Latent interpretation is used to access the underlying meaning. The results were divided into the three main categories; the experience of comprehensibility, the experience of manageability and the experience of meaningfulness. For instance, it was found that blog writing and surviving siblings strengthened the degree of SOC. Insufficient SOC was discovered amongst mothers who couldn’t comprehend why their child had died, which led to negative feelings. The authors believe that the mothers in the blog study experienced a good SOC with an unusual combination of components. Additional training for nurses regarding grief management is required, to be able to help families through this difficult and devastating period of their lives.

South African society is exposed to the reality of violence and crime, and at the same time HIV / AIDS is claiming the lives of many parents. Consequently schools throughout the country have an increasing number of bereaved adolescents among their learners. The effects of parental death during the adolescent years make severe inroads into the cognitive, psychosocial and moral development of adolescents. These detrimental effects of parental death motivated the researcher to investigate the effects of teacher- facilitated group work on bereaved adolescents. A mixed (qualitative and quantitative) research method was used to investigate the said effects. Accordingly a questionnaire was designed using the Likert rating scale. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) were used as quantitative data collection tools for this study. The data from the BDI and BAI were tabulated. Structured interviews, games, personal documents and focus group interviews were used as qualitative data collection tools. The data were analysed and reduced and prominent themes emerging from data sources were identified and discussed. While bereavement is a very traumatic event for the adolescent, the study findings illustrate that teacher-facilitated group work provides members with various benefits which help them learn more about themselves and improve their interpersonal relationships, thus providing a supportive climate in which they could deal collaboratively with their bereavement. The findings also point out that group work provides the bereaved adolescents with a place where they are understood, where they can talk about their thoughts and feelings without being judged. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Guidance and Counselling)

A literature study was undertaken to investigate the experience of loss and grief in the different developmental stages, as well as to identify characteristics of loss and grief in the young child. Guidelines have been compiled on how to handle loss and grief in young children. The empirical study comprised of workshop presentations. Through these presentations it was also determined as to whether parents and children would benefit from such workshops, as well as if the information regarding loss and grief addressed the parents’ needs. The empirical study found that parents are ignorant about loss and grief in the young child. However, all the parents had questions about loss and grief. After the workshops parents indicated that they became aware of positive changes in their own behaviour towards their children, and also in that of their children. One of the biggest problems in handling loss and grief in the young child seemed to be open and honest communication. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Guidance and Counseling)

The study focuses on the emotional experiences of parental bereavement of African adolescents who live in a rural environment. Findings revealed that the loss of a parent is very devastating for African adolescents. The adolescents received inadequate assistance from family, peers, community members or educators. It is essential after this study to uncover ways in which these adolescents could be assisted to cope with the loss of a parent who had been providing love, care, financial and material support, as well as safety and security. To gather data the researcher drew meaning from eight participants’ lived experiences from transcriptions of interviews with the participants. The participants, seven girls and one boy, were adolescents between the ages of twelve and fifteen years, who had lost their fathers. This study recommended that educators be equipped to take a major role in dealing with children in bereavement, since there are no educational psychologists or other professionals based in the school or neighbourhood. The community needs to be made aware of the plight of bereaved adolescents and should be introduced into giving positive and constructive assistance to these young people. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Specialisation in Guidance and Counselling)

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: A child’s death represents a traumatic loss, which can be understood as a crisis impacting on the family as a functioning unit. The purpose of the current study was to investigate grief and resilience in families in which a child has died, while specifically focusing on the internal resistance resource of family hardiness. A cross-sectional research design was implemented concurrently with intensive interviews conducted according to the principles of grounded theory. In total, 35 bereaved parents from the Western Cape participated in the study as representatives of 23 families. The participants each completed three questionnaires, a biographical questionnaire, the Family Hardiness Index and the Family Attachment and Changeability Index 8. Pearson and Spearman correlational analyses indicated significant positive correlations between family hardiness scores (including scores on the subscales for commitment, challenge and control) and family adaptation (measured by use of the Family Attachment and Changeability Index 8). Significant associations were also found between certain biographical variables and family hardiness. Intensive interviews were, furthermore, conducted with participants representing 12 different families. The analysis of interviewtranscriptions resulted in the formulation of various thematic categories, such as grief-reactions, continuing bonds, external support, religion, as well as the core category of family hardiness. A grounded theory was thus developed concerning grief and resilience in families in which a child has died. The results of the study reveal the importance of qualitative methods to explore the unique experiences of bereaved parents and families with the purpose of constructing applied interventions on the family level. The family hardiness concept was also clarified and shown to be a possible resistance resource conducive to family adaptation following the loss of a child. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die dood van `n kind is `n traumatiese verlies, wat beskou kan word as `n krisis wat `n impak het op die gesin as `n funksionerende eenheid. Die doelwit van die huidige studie was om verdriet en veerkragtigheid in gesinne waarin `n kind oorlede is, te ondersoek, met `n spesifieke fokus op die interne weerstandsbron van gesinsgehardheid. `n Dwars-snit opname navorsingsontwerp is gebruik in oorleg met intensiewe onderhoude, wat volgens die beginsels van gegronde teorie gevoer is. In totaal is 35 ouers, woonagtig in die Wes-Kaap, betrek by die studie, wat opgetree het as verteenwoordigers van 23 gesinne. Die deelnemers het elk drie vraelyste voltooi, naamlik `n biografiese vraelys, die Gesinsgehardheid Indeks en die Gesinsgehegtheid en Veranderlikheid Indeks 8. Pearson en Spearman korrelasie-berekeninge het aangedui dat gesinsgehardheid-tellings (asook die tellings op die subskale vir toewyding, uitdaging en beheer) beduidend positief korreleer met gesinsaanpassing (gemeet met die Gesinsgehegtheid en Veranderlikheid Indeks 8). Beduidende verhoudings is ook gevind tussen sekere biografiese veranderlikes en gesinsgehardheid. Verder is intensiewe onderhoude gevoer met die verteenwoordigers van 12 gesinne. Die ontleding van onderhoud-transkripsies het gelei tot die formulering van verskeie tematiese kategorieë, naamlik verdriet-reaksies, die voortdurende verbintenis, eksterne ondersteuning en godsdiens, asook die kern-kategorie van gesinsgehardheid. `n Gegronde teorie is sodoende ontwikkel, wat betrekking het op verdriet en veerkragtigheid in gesinne waarin `n kind oorlede is. Die resultate van die studie wys op die belang van kwalitatiewe metodes om die uniekheid van bedroefde ouers en gesinne se ervarings te verken met die doel om gepaste intervensies op gesinsvlak te ontwikkel. Die konsep van gesinsgehardheid is ook verhelder en aangedui as `n moontlike weerstandsbron, wat bevorderlik is vir gesinne se aanpassing ná die verlies van `n kind.

Thesis (MA (Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / With the aim of identifying central issues of bereavement, a literature study was undertaken and 22 bereaved participants were interviewed. The transcribed interviews of the participants were loaded on the Atlas ti. (2004) programme, specifically designed for qualitative analysis. From the analysis, four central issues, each with its own set of sub-issues emerged. The first central issue, called ‘Risk Factors’, had sub-categories of issues relating to the state of the family before the loss had taken place. These factors included issues such as the personality of the child, the ages and stages of individual members of the family, the bonds between family members and previous losses, which the family have experienced. Secondly, a group of issues, called ‘Bereavement’, were identified. The sub-categories in this group included aspects such as the circumstances surrounding the death, the way in which the child died, and the decisions parents had to make in the midst of the trauma. The third, and largest group of issues, called ‘Grief Reactions’, described the emotional-, physical-, spiritual-, cognitive-, behavioural- and relational reactions following the death. Finally, a group of related issues were identified as issues of ‘Mourning’. This group is associated with coping behaviours employed by the parents in attempting to continue life, in socially and culturally acceptable ways.

Support groups for suicide loss survivors are a relatively common resource used by those who are left to cope in the aftermath of a suicide death. Though descriptive studies have been used to provide an overview of support groups in the past, there have been no efforts to understand nuances of these groups and the impact of these groups and differing facilitation styles on the bereavement experience for attendees. This study explores primary data collected between March 2015 and December 2015 with a sample of 138 survivor of suicide loss support group facilitators in the United States and several other countries. Meaning making and meaning reconstruction is presented as the primary theory used to examine the attitudes of support group facilitators. Basic analytic procedures were used to explore sample descriptives, and an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) with an oblique rotation was used to identify the factors within the Survivor of Suicide Loss Support Group Facilitator Scale. Three factors were revealed with a simple structure, representing the latent themes of (1) Facilitator Perspective on the Role of the Story (α=.73), (2) Facilitator Perspective on the Role of the Facilitator (α=.63), and (3) Facilitator Perspective on Role of the Loss Survivor (α.59). Bivariate analyses revealed that factors 1 and 2 both had a significant relationship with length of time the facilitator had been leading the group, facilitator’s level of compassion satisfaction, and facilitator’s level of burnout. The findings of the EFA support the use of the scale as a tool to discern differences in attitudes about the role of meaning making and sharing of stories in the group as well as the role of the facilitator in aiding this process. The findings provide important information for understanding variation in support group facilitation styles and have implications for future exploration of outcomes for group attendees based on facilitator attitude and style. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.