Received social support from informal networks and professionals in bereavement

Abstract

The study assessed received social support from various sources of the informal social network and professionals in various phases of bereavement. The largest amount of support, in every phase, came from family and friends. Support received from these two sources were significantly associated with psychological adaptation, yet only in the long-term phase. With one exception, professional support was not related to psychological adaptation in any phase of bereavement. Also when both length of time since the death, whom one has lost, and the level of received social support were taken into account, the findings indicated—at least partly—that social support was only beneficial to those in the later phase of bereavement. The study also assessed the extent to which various characteristics of the bereaved, i.e. their gender, age, whom they had lost, and mode of death, were related to the amount of social support they had received. The findings indicated that female respondents received slightly more support from friends compared to males, whereas young respondents received more support from professionals and from colleagues compared to older respondents. Furthermore, widowed persons received more support than bereaved parents from family and friends, and survivors after a sudden death received more support from family, friends and neighbours than survivors after an expected death. The differences were, however, relatively modest.