Concept Of Grief Research Articles

Fractured academic space: digital literacy and the COVID-19 pandemic

PurposeThe study focussed on information literacy practices, specifically on how higher education staff managed the transition from established and routinised in-person teaching, learning and working practices to institutionally mandated remote or hybrid working patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThe qualitative study forms part of a broader research project, examining how information literacy and information practices unfolded during the COVID-19 pandemic. Phase Three of this project, which forms the subject of this paper, employed semi-structured interviews to explore the impact of COVID-19 on the workplace and, in particular, the role that technology and digital literacy plays in enabling or constraining information literacy practices necessary for the operationalisation of work.FindingsThe complexities of the COVID-19 pandemic precipitated a fracturing of workplace information environments and worker information landscapes by disrupting all aspects of academic life. The study recognises that whilst the practice of information literacy is predicated on access to modalities of information, this practice is also shaped by material conditions. This has implications for digital literacy which, in attempting to set itself apart from information literacy practice, has negated the significant role that the body and the corporeal modality play as important sources of information that enable transition to occur. In relation to information resilience, the bridging concept of fracture has enabled the authors to consider the informational impact of crisis and transition on people's information experiences and people's capacity to learn to go on when faced with precarity. The concept of grief is introduced into the analysis.Originality/valueThis study presents original research.

Caregivers in anorexia nervosa: is grief underlying parental burden?

PurposeAnorexia Nervosa (AN) is a severe chronic disorder and parents’ experience of caregiving is usually marked by emotional distress and burden. Severe chronic psychiatric disorders are known to be linked with the concept of grief. Grief has not been investigated in AN. The aim of this study was to explore parents’ and adolescents’ characteristics that may be related to parental burden and grief in AN, and the link between these two dimensions.MethodsEighty mothers, 55 fathers and their adolescents (N = 84) hospitalized for AN participated in this study. Evaluations of clinical characteristics of the adolescent’s illness were completed, as well as self-evaluations of adolescent and parental emotional distress (anxiety, depression, alexithymia). Levels of parental burden were evaluated with the Experience of Caregiving Inventory and levels of parental grief with the Mental Illness Version of the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief.ResultsMain findings indicated that the burden was higher in parents of adolescents with a more severe AN; fathers’ burden was also significantly and positively related to their own level of anxiety. Parental grief was higher when adolescents’ clinical state was more severe. Paternal grief was related to higher anxiety and depression, while maternal grief was correlated to higher alexithymia and depression. Paternal burden was explained by the father’s anxiety and grief, maternal burden by the mother’s grief and her child’s clinical state.ConclusionParents of adolescents suffering from AN showed high levels of burden, emotional distress and grief. These inter-related experiences should be specific targets for intervention aimed at supporting parents. Our results support the extensive literature on the need to assist fathers and mothers in their caregiving role. This in turn may improve both their mental health and their abilities as caregivers of their suffering child.Level of evidenceLevel III: Evidence obtained from cohort or case-control analytic studies.

Commemorative Events and Public Rituals: Redefining Our Leisure Engagement with Violent Death As Healing Practice And/through Social Activism

The article examines the concepts of public grief and social activism in the context of commemorative events, such as candlelight vigils. These candlelight vigils can be viewed as a form of leisure activity as individuals freely chose to attend the event during their free time. Attending such events has the potential to provide therapy to the attendees and contribute towards their well-being, similar to the phenomenon of individuals visiting roadside memorials and locally created shrines following an unexpected and/or violent death. The article focuses on the candlelight vigils held to commemorate high profile murders of women as part of the violence against women focus in Victoria, Australia. These events also provide attendees with the opportunity to engage in social activism, reinforcing that these events provide the opportunity to engage in a blend of both private and public mourning; and may encourage social good via activism, which also may be a form of therapeutic practice for well-being. The article introduces the concept of grief leisure as a way to conceptualize the attendance at public event vigils as a therapeutic practice to help deal with grief.

Exploring an Extended Conception of Grief: Sense of Presence and Grief Reactions in German Widows.

This study explores sense of presence (SOP) as an important feature of continuing bonds (CB) in the context of normal grief. A community sample of widows (N = 51) filled in a multidimensional grief questionnaire and a depression scale. A moderate positive association between sensing the deceased husband´s presence and cognitive and emotional impairments emerged. A positive relationship between SOP and guilt was found only if the influence of religiosity was controlled for statistically. There were no significant associations of SOP with long-lasting positive reactions to loss, such as personal growth and increase in sensitivity for others. Widows with clinically relevant depression indicated a stronger SOP than those with lower depression scores. These differentiated findings may stimulate the elaboration of an extended conception of grief beyond the focus on clinically relevant impairments.

The discursive transformation of grief throughout history.

In recent decades, the phenomenon of grief, when you lose a loved one, has been the subject of exploration and discussion among researchers. Because of this, prolonged grief is now recognized as a possible mental disorder as the latest version of the diagnosis manual; 'International Classification of Diseases' (ICD-11) being published in 2018 is featuring a new diagnosis called 'prolonged grief disorder'. The commencement of this new disorder indicates a shift in the way grief is being articulated why the notion of rupture from the French philosopher Michel Foucault is applied as a philosophical approach in this paper. A Foucault-inspired discourse analysis has been prepared and by considering the issue historically and tracing how the concept of grief has been articulated in different time periods throughout history, the aim is to map out the discursive transformation that has taken place and to gain insight into how the societal context has supported and enabled this transformation. This paper takes a historical look back from the 1800s to present and identifies when changes can be observed in the way grief is being articulated. These changes or ruptures are identified in the work of Søren Aabye Kierkegaard, Sigmund Freud and Margaret Stroebe & Henk Schut who all must be assumed to have contributed significantly to how grief is perceived in various historical time periods. The discourse analysis identifies how prominent thinkers have articulated grief in each period and how today's perception of grief, as a possible mental disorder, both relates to these prominent thinkers but also reflects dominant societal values and ideologies.

Grief and Bereavement Practices Among Igbo People of South-Eastern Nigeria: Implications for Counselling

Death is as old as human kind, but always appears in minds as fresh as a new born when and wherever it occurs. Death or loss of loved one/valuable items is a tragedy, disastrous and difficult to swallow within a short period of its occurrence. The unpredictable psychological feeling called grief is usually accompanied with emotional setbacks like; anxiety, depression, insomnia, anger, feeling of guilt, sadness, despair and yearning among others determines the level of attachment to the loss and so the likely period of bereavement. The unfortunate circumstances seem to manifest themselves even among animals particularly mammals for example; chimpanzees exhibit silence behavior around the dead member, gorillas use sign language and even expressing sadness about the deceased member, elephants display destructive unusual habit on seeing motionless member, some deer mostly sniff and poke while looking at their lifeless deceased among others. However, this paper attempts to define the concepts of grief, mourning, counselling and bereavement practices by various groups around the world, with much emphasis on Igbo people of South-Eastern Nigeria as well as its counselling implications.

THE GRIEF AND TRAUMA PROJECT: A GROUP WORK APPROACH TO RESTORING EMOTIONAL AND SPIRITUAL HEALTH TO WOMEN IN BEREAVED AND TRAUMATISED INDIGENT COMMUNITIES IN THE WESTERN CAPE, SOUTH AFRICA

The extreme levels of grief and trauma experienced in resource-poor communities in South Africa are well documented. The concept of grief or trauma being experienced and managed as an isolated incident and access to psychological therapeutic support being available is assumed in much of Western literature. This study describes a response to the multiple grief and loss experiences of indigent South African communities, its continual nature and the paucity of help available. A group work approach to providing psychosocial and spiritual support was developed and implemented. Improved mental health, physical health and interpersonal relationship outcomes are described.

Understanding the process of the disposition of a loved one’s possessions using a theoretical framework of grief

ABSTRACTThis paper aims to understand how people manage the mass of objects accumulated by a deceased relative. We argue that the practices in respect of the deceased’s possessions depend on the evolution of the relationship of the bereaved to the deceased. To understand this relationship, we draw on the concept of grief. Sixteen interviews with bereaved individuals show that management of the deceased’s accumulated belongings follows a process punctuated by four periods depending on the relationship between the bereaved and the deceased: numbness (confronting the absence of the deceased and paralysis with regard to his objects); yearning (looking for the lost person through his possessions by trying to maintain a link to them); personal disorganization (experiencing negative emotions toward the deceased, which may lead the bereaved to transgress personal values and throw things out); and finally reorganization/reconstruction (making the deceased “live” by forging another relationship to his possessions and revisiting the meaning of the consumption of products). These results allow us to enrich the understanding of the process of dispossession of non-transmitted items. They also show that clearing the house of a deceased relative leads the bereaved to consume less and/or in a different way (collaborative consumption).

Folie, première et seconde mort

AimsThe author sets out to show that catering for madness, conceived as psychic death, requires the framework which, in other branches of medicine, configures the caregiver's implication in favour of life to be broadened. MethodsAn in-depth analysis of the ideas of the French psychiatrist Georges Lantéri-Laura is presented, in particular those set out in his Essai sur la discordance dans la psychiatrie contemporaine (in collaboration with Martine Gros, 1992). He refers to the nineteenth century French psychiatrist Philippe Chaslin, who supported the idea that in psychiatry the boundaries between health and illness, like those between psychic life and death, need to be envisaged in a broader perspective, giving central importance to the subjective experience of the individual presenting symptoms. The present paper details the proposal by Jacques Lacan, on the subject of the stages described by Sophocles in Antigone's progress towards death, of distinguishing first death, second death, and the “zone between two deaths”. It describes this model, along with illustrations from literature. For instance, in Heinrich von Kleist's Prince of Homburg, the hero, rather than a life without honour, prefers to enter immortality by the heroic acceptation of his punishment. We underline how this radical option can be accompanied by the experience of an ultimate triumph, transcending the value that the individual attaches to life. ResultsThis leads on to an approach to madness returning to what was known as “alienation”. This concept, reappraised as an upraising (or uprising) of the subject, forms the question that is worth asking of the subject, that of his freedom (Henry Ey, Jacques Lacan). We stress the approach letting people know that the tragic hero expresses by his detachment from life, and his conviction that there is a life after existence has gone, because the being of the person said to be departed remains present in what remains of his acts. DiscussionThis critical reflection leads us to a new conception of grief and mourning. We need to think beyond the stage of mourning or grieving described by Freud, as this process could replace the investment in a departed object by investment in a substitute object. Like Philippe Ariès, we consider that the most important, most invested objects remain, and should remain, irreplaceable. The person mourning should adopt an attitude of respect that allows the figure of the departed to continue towards his destiny in the remembrance of the survivors. This analysis of mourning, integrating the destiny of the image of the departed person, is a head-on criticism of the present trend in society of reducing, masking or denying death, and its essential consequences on the identity of mourners. ConclusionsThe Hindu thought, with the principle of Nirvana, is an encouragement to fully accept the encroachment of death on life, and life on death, which Lacan studied in Œdipus at Colonus. We recall the case of the Papin sisters, and its literary echoes, showing that the uprising against death merits consideration in a wider perspective. Likewise, we can recall the regrettable tradition in psychiatric asylums of burying patients in nameless tombs.

Orientaciones pedagógicas para el acompañamiento educativo por duelo a personas adultas con discapacidad intelectual

It is needed a foundation and some orientations to act in loss and grief situations with adults with intellectual disabilities. In this article, through a relevant literature review, we based the educational accompaniment as a pedagogic methodology of support with three principal elements: a) The conception of grief from its formative potential, b) The prevention of disorders associated to grief complications, c) The pedagogic intervention preferably from the tutorship or from the actuation of educators or professionals near to intellectual disabilities people. The educational accompaniment model is a proposal that can be placed on humanist models of grief since it considers both the characteristics of the grieving process and the formative possibilities of its elaboration. The article’s conclusions present some of the benefits of the educational accompaniment for adults with intellectual disabilities.

Grief and loss theory in social work practice: All changes involve loss, just as all losses require change

Working with and recognising grief and loss issues have long been identified as one of the core skills of social work practice. Despite its centrality, the exploration and application of grief and loss theory from a perspective other than death and dying has received sporadic attention in social work literature. This paper begins with a personal reflection from practice, which provided the catalyst writing in the first place. The concepts of grief and loss are then discussed in relation to losses other than death and dying. An analysis of historical and contemporary theories of grief and loss will then be explored, with the author advancing a theoretically expansive approach to grief and loss. This theoretical approach is one that is consistent with social work practice and is committed to diversity of experience and clients' strengths, as it adopts a framework for practice, which is constantly mindful of the context and meaning systems of social work clients.

Grief is more than tears.

Much has been written in the professional and popular literature about grief. The multiplicity of sources for information about the phenomenon often leads to confusion regarding terminology and process. In addition, assessment and intervention methods show the phenomenon as unidimensional despite evidence to the contrary. Because nursing routinely deals with grief, it is important that a framework be developed to help understand the process and guide appropriate interventions. The Neuman systems model is particularly well suited as a framework because concepts found in the model are similar to descriptions of the concept of grief. An analysis of the grief concept using the Neuman model is presented, with perinatal grief presented as an example.

Loss of the imagined past: an emotional obstacle to medical compliance in kidney transplant recipients

Among kidney transplant recipients, the concepts of grief and bereavement have been considered in terms of graft rejection, side effects of drugs, or death of the donor. However, our research suggests that even after a successful kidney transplantation, patients may present with feelings of bereavement, grief, or low mood, which may appear paradoxical because they have just received a much desired transplant. This sense of bereavement should be considered in terms of an imagined past, which may help to understand the patient's current mood changes and medical noncompliance. In the case report presented here, we have used the concept of systemic integrative psychotherapy to analyze change in a patient's life. Based on our research, we suggest that feelings of bereavement and grief are generated as patients come to terms with their past, which has been irretrievably lost to chronic illness, and contemplate their future. Feelings of grief and bereavement in the posttransplant period may be due to the loss of an imagined past, and must be differentiated from the bereavement the patient feels for the donor and the donor family. These feeling of loss, if not resolved, may lead to social isolation and medical noncompliance.

EXPERTS OF THE ORDINARY: BEREAVEMENT COUNSELLING IN BRITAIN

Counselling is of increasing importance in British society. Yet, very few detailed ethnographic descriptions exist of how it works in practice. This article focuses on training courses with the national bereavement care organization, Cruse. The discussion revolves around Cruse’s conception of grief as a natural and ordinary process, yet individually variable and unique, and its client‐centred approach, which attributes ‘expert’ status to clients. Consideration of the ‘ordinary’ and ‘expert’ in Cruse ideology suggests fundamental questions: how does Cruse justify its counselling activity? How does it train and motivate people to carry out counselling? I argue that this is achieved by grounding the sense of grief in the trainees themselves through a process of situated learning that allows the trainees to assume expertise of the ordinary. Addressing the work of counselling theoretically, I argue that, while Foucauldian analysis of the psy‐sciences is to some extent applicable to counselling, detailed participant observation reveals complexities in the interplay of subjectivity and subjection that the Foucauldian approach is unable to grasp.

Faction and Fusion in The 7 Stages of Grieving

Indigenous Australian theatre company Kooemba Jdarra's production of Wesley Enoch and Deborah Mailman's The 7 Stages of Grieving (performed by Mailman) presents us with a series of stories about grief, grieving and loss. Mailman adopts the position of a ‘nomadic performer’ moving between stories and personae, refusing to embrace a singular character position, instead weaving the performance together through her use of slides, photographs, story and song. The performer claims and marks the space and empowers herself through her control over representation. The stories told often use autobiographical references, however, the style of the work positions the performance piece as a pastiche of stories about Aboriginal grief and grieving rather than an attempt to tell ‘true’ stories. This analysis interrogates the ways in which the spectator is invited to question his/her understandings of, and responses to, the concepts of grief and grieving, and to further question the issue of belonging in Australia, given the past and ongoing oppression of the Indigenous peoples of this land.

Exploring the roles of grief and grieving in coping with lifelong change

This paper explores the value of the concept of grief as one way to make sense of individual's reactions to change. The discussion acknowledges that change is always from something, not just to something. In an environment that is increasingly expected to involve lifelong change, there is an urgent need for individuals to develop capacities to ‘move with’ change. The paper identifies a number of strategies to assist individuals and groups acknowledge and grieve change-included loss, strategies which support sustainable ‘moving on’.

Understanding grief and guilt as common themes in family response to mental illness: Implications for social work practice

Grief and guilt are common themes in the response of family members to the emergence of schizophrenia in a family member. This paper explores the diverse research literature on families and schizophrenia, and considers the specific concepts of grief and guilt. This review provides a basis for the critical reflection on social work practice with families of people with schizophrenia. The nature and expression of grief and guilt are discussed and developed in relation to practice and a number of practice conclusions are drawn. These include the importance of understanding and respecting the family's experience of grief and guilt, the importance of an empathic response to grief and guilt, and the importance of a teaching and supportive approach to family work.

Child bereavement after paternal suicide.

Studies of child suicide survivors are rare and often these studies have not included direct interviews with children. To describe the bereavement process in a sample of prepubertal children whose fathers died by suicide within the previous three years. Sixteen prepubertal children, their mothers, and a relative or caretaker were interviewed to examine grief, trauma, and behavior within 25 months of paternal suicide. Reminiscing was the most frequently endorsed grief behavior. Males were more likely than females to score above the standard means for CBCL scores. PTSD scores were significantly related to parental threats of divorce and exposure to death by discovery of the body. The concept of grief and trauma as separate and overlapping phenomena is supported by the study findings.

Concepts of grief and loss for the hospice physician

Concepts of grief and loss for the hospice physician

The concept of grief: An analysis of classical and contemporary thought

Abstract Grief has been a topic of focused inquiry for a number of years. However, in spite of the attention given to this significant aspect of human existence, progress in gaining a clear understanding of grief has been relatively slow. This situation is at least partially due to the existence of a conceptual problem concerning the definition of grief making it difficult to identify a grief response and to differentiate among grief and a variety of related concepts. Persons interested in grief have had to rely on their individual interpretations of the concept and, as a result, have generated a plethora of confusing terms to address the experience. In this article, the results of a systematic inquiry to define grief as a concept are presented. The findings provide a synthesis of existing thought, suggestions for the reconceptualization of grief and grief outcomes, and guidelines for further study.