This study sought to explore the lived experience of the bereaved-by-suicide and to provide a detailed description of their experience with the loss of a loved one. The study participants were 12 bereaved-by-suicide individuals between the ages of 21 and 65 who had experienced the loss of a loved one by suicide two or more years before the interviews. The research question was made up of three parts, "How do the bereaved-by-suicide describe their grief in personal, practical, and existential terms?" The theoretical framework for the study was derived from Neimeyer's meaning reconstruction theory. Data were collected via individual interview and coded according to the themes acquired from the study participants. The primary themes of grief that emerged from their narratives included the following: (a) the initial shock, (b) episodes of anger, (c) feeling a sense of loss, (d) living in a world of grief, (e) inability to trust and the resulting isolation, (f) thoughts on life after death, (g) preparing to say good-bye, and (h) building stronger relationships. The research confirmed the overwhelming effect of suicide on those bereaved; their daily lives were disrupted, and there was a higher risk of mental instability even two or more years after the suicide. The broader implications of these findings pertain to developing strategies to increase social awareness about the grief experienced by the bereaved-by-suicide, despite the person's efforts to appear strong and hide their grief and fears. The results of this study may add to the current research and can contribute to bringing about social change in development of prevention programs, enhancements in bereavement training, support group development, and in how the bereaved-by-suicide are viewed.

A year after the mysterious death of Petra, her twin sister Dash convinces the scattered and estranged members of her Scout troop to re-form in order to return to Exploration Expedition, the site of her sisters passing. Though the troop have all been dealing with the loss of their defacto leader in different ways, their arrival at Expedition forces them to work together to confront their guilt in the events surrounding Petra’s death and its effect on their own lives and friendships.

At seventeen, I lost my fourteen-year old brother in a shooting accident. After hearing the news of my brother’s death, my Great Aunt Mary wrote a letter to my family. The one line I remember was “I’ve heard that it takes three years to heal from the passing of a loved one.” Five years after Jacob’s death, I was once again confronted with losing a brother. Jaxon was born and died within twenty-four hours. I hadn’t yet “healed” from Jacob’s death, and I didn’t know how to do so. The elusive nature of memory when confronted with personal trauma calls into question issues of identity. Does the previous self still exist after loss? In this memoir I document the impact of tragic grief and how death not only informs how we perceive the future, but how we interpret our past selves. Through the tri-part structure, I experiment with viewpoint, beginning with a first person “I,” struggling to fit my brothers’ deaths into a single narrative line. From here, the narrative shatters as I reflect upon my childhood self with a different lens and the distance of third person--the self being so fractured, there is no “I” left. Finally, the memoir moves to direct address, speaking to Jacob. Jacob is now a “you,” an alive and vibrant presence that becomes a part of the narrator as she explores her grief and begins to piece herself back together. Through this exploration, she discovers that “healing” is complex and that art can both aid in the process and chart the path.

"Write about what you know" is a familiar mantra in fiction workshops, but writing facts or details about what is known doesn't necessarily create character or reveal conflict. The story must develop from the alchemy of these elements and stand as a whole, and the story must pull the reader into its own particular world. "The Nature of Grief" and other stories center around one character named Loren Shay and her experiences as a first-time teacher in the small rural town of Folkston, Georgia. With the exception of "Free," these stories represent her conflicts with students and faculty and her struggle to know herself through her experiences. She does not always succeed, but the mystery of her life changes and grows with her identity. I tried to experiment with style and structure in these stories. "The Nature of Grief," "Adultrysts," and "In The Blackout" are written in episodic scenes pieced together to form a whole. For inspiration and guidance, I studied Lorrie Moore's stories from __Self-Help__and Susan Minot's __Lust__. "10-30," "Quonda B.," amd "Free" are more conventional, following traditional lines of conflict and resolution. My main goal in writing this thesis was to inhabit the fictional voice and create a rich, dimensional world of how one woman dealt with her triumphs and losses during her first year as a teacher. / Thesis / Master

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Client satisfaction is recognized as an important indicator in performance monitoring and evaluation. The Silver Chain Grief Support Service was evaluated using client satisfaction as a performance indicator. Data were collected via mailed, telephone and personal interviews utilizing the Client Satisfaction Questionnarie-8, dimensions of the Evaluation Ranking Scale, and open-ended questions. Results indicate high levels of satisfaction with the service. Findings and limitations of the evaluation are discussed. Recommendations for improvement of the service are presented.

Despite the introduction of road safety measures and media campaigns, crashes are a leading cause of death in Western Australia. While economic costs of crashes are relatively easy to determine, their psychosocial burden remains appreciably under-studied, as are the social, cultural, historical, temporal, and political contexts within which grief experiences are housed. As such, I explored the experience of grief resulting from losing a loved one in a crash in Western Australia and described the influence of contextual factors on those grief experiences.

Thesis (M.F.A.) -- Montana State University -- Bozeman, 2006. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: N. Rick Pope.

Thesis (MSD(Play therapy))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Abstract in English and Afrikaans. Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Exposure to traumatic events has deleterious effect resulting in considerable psychological (cognitive and affective/emotional), physical and social impairments. In contrast to natural disasters, victims of man-made disasters have been reported to be vulnerable to severe psychological and psychiatric disorders affecting a large number of abilities and lasting for many years. Among the most common psychiatric diagnosis associated with violence exposure is the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Like adults, children and adolescents are not exempt from this situation. In 1994, Rwanda experienced an unprecedented genocide in which about 800.000 Tutsi, for their majority, were atrociously murdered (UN). This genocide generated multiple and massive stressors that may lead to severe and long-lasting PTSD among its survivors, including children and adolescents. Report on traumas exposure and psychological reactions to genocide among young survivors in Rwanda (Dyregrov et al., 2000) unanimously indicate a precarious situation. At the social level, children and adolescents heading household (CHH) are presumably the most vulnerable given their social deprivation. Moreover, the increased number of significant losses (parents, siblings, relatives, family and community cohesion) and the traumatic nature of the death predict traumatic grief among the young orphans of the genocide in Rwanda. The embedment of traumas and bereavement in this population is postulated to increase the likelihood of severe and persistent posttraumatic distress. With regard to the genocide in Rwanda, especially the extent of its damages; it is hypothesized that psychological consequences from such disaster are crucial. Considering social categories of young survivors, CHH are hypothesized to be vulnerable to several psychological sequels given their social and economic living conditions. The trauma exposure history, traumatic bereavement of key caretakers and attachment figures (parents and other relatives), lack of adult guardianship, insecure family structures and precarious social support are risk factors predicting poor outcomes. About the structure, this thesis consists of seven chapters, the general introduction and conclusion excluded. The two first chapters are theoretical and overview the literature related to PTSD (Chapter 1) and the association of trauma and bereavement (Chapter 2) resulting in a conjunction of PTSD and grief. They clarify issues related to symptoms and semiotic concepts, diagnostic and assessment protocols, and demonstrate how PTSD and grief can be embedded on certain aspects but not on others. At the empirical level, findings from PTSD prevalence (chapter 3) and the association of PTSD and grief (chapter 4) among young people survivors of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda are presented. Furthermore, continuous exposure to post-genocide trauma reminders, deleterious socio-economic life conditions, coping strategies and PTSD comorbidity are presented as major risk factors to persistent and complex post-traumatic distress (Chapter 5). Finally, given our findings, a rumination focused cognitive and behavioural therapeutic (RFCBT) protocol is tested in a pilot sample (Chapters 6) and in a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) (chapter 7).