Childhood Bereavement Due to Parental Death from Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

Abstract

Numerous articles stress the unique problems of mourning an acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related death and suggest psychotherapeutic interventions. However, no studies have been conducted that identify what differs in the grief process when the death was AIDS-associated and whether the extensive clinical and research literature on bereavement can be generalized to AIDS. This paper focuses on a bereaved population that has suffered AIDS-related loss--the uninfected children of mothers who die of AIDS, a group that has been referred to as "AIDS orphans." We begin with a brief discussion of factors that complicate the grief process among those who lose a significant other to AIDS. Next we discuss the factors that the extant clinical and research literatures suggest may influence adjustment to parental death in childhood. Then we apply this literature to parental loss in childhood from an AIDS-associated death. Finally we recommend directions for future research.