Death in the Family

Abstract

Interviews with 50 children recently experiencing a death in the family focused on the Kvaebeck Family Sculpture Technique. Family configurations produced by the children varied by developmental level, with preoperational children organizing the family by physical location and tending to treat the deceased as still present, concrete operational children referring to the actual power structure and physical attributes of family members, and formal operational children taking a more reflexive view and expressing their feelings of loss more fully. The sculpturing was considered helpful in eliciting family discussion about the death.