Difficult Life Events Research Articles

… If You Can Turn to God, You Can Turn to Anyone!

Abstract Recent empirical studies demonstrate that faith is a resource that can contribute to personal resilience in difficult life events. Since few studies have focused on how women draw on their faith to cope with homelessness and associated life stressors, this study is an attempt to fill this gap. By examining women’s accounts of experience with homelessness and homeless shelters in Croatia, we explore the role of faith in their lives. Using qualitative methods, to explore the meanings homeless women attribute to their experiences of faith, we discuss whether these experiences buffer stress and facilitate coping with adversity. It is recommended that future studies should further explore homeless people’s expressions of faith to gain insight into the scope, depth and diversity of these resources.

Relational Turbulence and Marital Communication When Children with Autism Start School: A Longitudinal Dyadic Diary Study

ABSTRACTAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a pervasive and often difficult health condition, the consequences of which ripple through family relationships. This paper engages relational turbulence theory, which addresses communication in romantic relationships, and the experiencing life transitions model, from the field of nursing, to examine how communication between parents affects the marital relationship during a major transition in the life of a child with ASD. Transition processing communication (TPC) includes four forms of communication that can help married partners navigate difficult life events: increasing interaction, promoting connection, promoting feeling situated, and increasing confidence in the relationship. This study examines the effects of partners’ TPC on their own and their spouse’s experiences of relational uncertainty, changes in interdependence, and relational turbulence. A total of 33 couples and 60 married, female individuals, parents of a child with ASD who was starting school for the first time, completed a pre-test, 14 dairies, and a post-test; diaries were completed every three days over a 42-day period, beginning on the child’s first day of school. Findings suggest that partners’ engagement in TPC significantly affects some relationship qualities. In addition, an individual’s perceptions of his or her spouse’s communication were a stronger predictor of relational turbulence than the spouse’s self-reported communication. Results point to several implications for understanding the ways in which married partners can protect their marriage in the face of their child’s health-related transitions.

TEACHING POSTMODERN AND NARRATIVE SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE THROUGH THE USE OF FILM-BASED CLIENTS

This paper elaborates on the use of film-based clients in teaching narrative therapy in social work. In this paper, I provide my rationale for the use of film-based clients and then highlight the life story of Lars, taken from the film Lars and the Real Girl (2007), as an example of how film clients can be a helpful way of learning how to practice narrative therapy. The theory and epistemology of narrative therapy—and specifically a postmodern approach to the central organizing concepts of story, experience, self, knowledge, and power—are discussed. I then illustrate key elements of narrative practice with Lars as a film-based client. The attention to creating counternarratives challenges dominant social discourses in Lars’ story about mental health and coping with difficult life events, and the internalization of these ideas as part of the story of his identity. A positioned approach against the medicalization and pathologization of Lars’ struggles reflects the social justice commitment of narrative practice.

Advocating for Bereavement Leave Policies for College Students

Advocating for Bereavement Leave Policies for College Students Heather L. Servaty-Seib (bio) and Chye Hong Liew (bio) Substantive research indicates that 37 to 44% of college students report the death of someone important to them (i.e., family member or close friend) in the prior 2-year period (Cousins, Servaty-Seib, & Lockman, 2017; Cox, Dean, & Kowalski, 2015). Yet, few institutions in the United States offer bereavement leave policies for students that are parallel to their polices for employees. Students are generally required to approach individual faculty to request bereavement-related accommodations. We provide rationales for student-focused bereavement leave policies and offer details regarding the development, structure, and ongoing implementation of one such policy at a large Midwestern university. RATIONALE Experiencing the death of someone close often affects college students’ overall functioning and may hinder their ultimate success. Balk (2011) argued that grief interacts in dynamic and holistic ways with college students’ physical, interpersonal, cognitive, emotional, and spiritual development. As connected with Tinto’s (1993) model of retention, challenges appear clearest in the academic and social domains. Students who experience deaths report difficulty concentrating (Cupit, Servaty-Seib, Tedrick Parikh, Walker, & Martin, 2016) and display lower GPAs than their matched nongrieving peers during the semester of their death loss (Servaty-Seib & Hamilton, 2006b). Grieving students describe isolation, lack of support, and decreased belongingness (Servaty-Seib & Fajgenbaum, 2015) and are also at risk for leaving college at higher rates than matched nongrieving peers (Servaty-Seib & Hamilton, 2006a). Only college students attending a small percentage of colleges and universities across the US are protected by policies that allow time away following a significant death loss. Such lack of policy seems surprising given that these protections (e.g., paid absence separate from other types of leave) are generally afforded to adult employees and K–12 children and adolescents. Using Google Search (June 2018; terms were student bereavement leave policy and student grief absence policy), we located 44 institutions with established bereavement leave policies for college students (contact authors for list). Most were in the Northeastern US (36%) and were institutions classified by Carnegie (http://carnegieclassifications.iu.edu) as 4-year (89%), large (52%), public (75%), and primarily residential (48%; 25–45% of students live on campus). Bereavement leave policies are advantageous. [End Page 240] First, they communicate respect and compassion for students as adults with lives outside the institution and as individuals who experience difficult life events. Second, such policies provide accommodations that may enhance experience and success at critical moments in students’ college careers. Third, although establishing bereavement leave policies for students may seem onerous and costly at first, such policies might reduce resource expenditures and promote consistent treatment of grieving students (J. Cox, personal communication, November 30, 2018). Faculty need not spend time or effort in determining how to provide appropriate accommodations for each student when policy details how many days of absence are allowed. Students can communicate with one central campus unit (e.g., Office of the Dean of Students; ODOS) to provide required documentation of the death, thereby relieving students of the need to discuss the death with each faculty member. The central campus unit may also conserve resources by applying a standardized policy and using an automated system to inform faculty and advisors of the death loss and the allowed days of absence. Finally, alumni whose bereavement experiences during college were handled in an empathic and thoughtful manner may be more likely to remain attached and contribute to their alma mater (Hamilton, 2008), an important consideration in an era of continued reduction in governmental funding for higher education. In sum, the death of someone close is a powerful life experience. Acts of institutional support immediately following deaths are impactful and deeply appreciated (Servaty-Seib & Fajgenbaum, 2015). Bereavement leave policies are one such institutional support that communicates recognition and responsiveness to student needs and may enhance student experience and success, reduce resource cost, and potentially contribute to alumni loyalty. A CASE EXAMPLE The development, structure, and implementation of a student-focused bereavement leave policy will vary by institution. Below, we describe the development process on our own campus, the content of our policy—the Grief Absence Policy for Students...

Grief & Personal Growth: Reflection from Quran, Hadith and Modern Medicine

Grief has been defined as the reaction towards loss with typical symptoms including sadness, anger, guilt, yearning, regret, loneliness, numbness and positive feelings related to individual’s personal experience. Grief has been postulated to occur when a safe and secure bond has been threatened. This loss can be an opportunity for personal growth. It is growth that emerges from difficult life events. It may occur during or after the process of grieving. We reviewed three cases related to grief and personal growth. Three cases were described where grief and personal growth were observed. Each case occurred in different situations. These different situations were; an adult child and caregiver of patient with dementia, a widow who loss her husband from drowning, and a cancer survivor who experienced psychological and spiritual growth from the loss and adverse life event. As a comparison three stories taken from the Quran and Hadith were analyzed to reflect on the three case discussions. The Quran and Hadith have mentioned stories of personal growth emerging from difficulties. The completeness of Islamic creed has never neglected the spiritual component in treating medical, physical and psychological illnesses. Islamic spirituality facilitates and enhances personal growth in the aftermath of any physical and psychological tribulations. It is important to merge the spiritual aspects of grief from Islamic perspective, as to aid those suffering from grief to attain personal and spiritual growth.

Scars of a Lifetime

Scars of a Lifetime

Humorous sublimation of a dying Cuban writer in Reinaldo Arenas’ The Color of Summer

Abstract How does a human being deal with suffering? How can we emotionally cope with the vicissitudes of life, especially in times where they suddenly multiply themselves? In this study, we present an innovative interdisciplinary study on the use of coping mechanisms by career writers dealing with difficult life events. We focus in particular on the use of humor and sublimation, two creative mental mechanisms that contribute to the lowering of anxiety while at the same time dealing constructively with the external stressors. Never before have these mechanisms been studied in a complementary way in the context of a literary study. This paper offers an in-depth analysis of Reinaldo Arenas’ The Color of Summer. In this novel, this Cuban author introduces an autobiographical perspective of the Cuban sixties and seventies, intending to present a facet of history that would never appear in Cuban history books. The combination of both coping mechanisms, which we call humorous sublimation, offers a novel that not only helped the author cope with his tormented life, but also allowed the reader to gain an understanding of a dark period of Cuban history by means of a very funny and surreal reading.

The course and predictors of perceived unsupportive responses by family and friends among women newly diagnosed with gynecological cancers.

Perceived unsupportive responses from close others play an important role in psychological adaptation of patients with cancer. Little is known about whether these negative responses change after someone experiences a serious life event, and even less is known about the individual characteristics and related factors that might contribute to both the levels of and changes in perceived unsupportive responses over the course of adaptation to an experience. This longitudinal study aimed to evaluate changes in perceived unsupportive behavior from family and friends among women newly with gynecologic cancer as well as initial demographic, disease, and psychological factors that predict the course of perceived unsupportive behavior over time. Women (N = 125) assigned to the usual care arm of a randomized clinical trial comparing a coping and communication intervention with a supportive counseling intervention to usual care completed six surveys over an 18 month period. Growth models using multilevel modeling were used to predict unsupportive responses over time. Average levels of perceived unsupportive responses from family and friends were low. Unsupportive responses varied from patient to patient, but patients did not report a systematic change in perceived unsupportive responses over time. Cultivating meaning and peace and coping efficacy were associated with fewer perceived unsupportive responses as well as reductions in perceived unsupportive responses over time. Emotional distress, cancer concerns, functional impairment, holding back sharing concerns, and cognitive and behavioral avoidance predicted higher perceived unsupportive responses over time. The findings are discussed in terms of the self-presentation theory and social network responses to persons undergoing difficult life events.

Building Resilience Among Orphaned and Vulnerable Children Through the Memory Book Intervention.

Children who are orphaned and vulnerable due to poverty, war, or disease (HIV/AIDS) may experience childhood traumatic grief. A qualitative phenomenological approach was implemented to explore and compare the lived experiences of orphaned children, adolescents, and caregivers who had used the Memory Book intervention at six children's homes in India, Kenya, and South Africa. Study findings revealed similar themes between the countries, with primary themes of identity and relationships, and secondary themes of coping, hope, and emotion. Findings suggest the value of Memory Book resources to encourage the preservation of a child's story and grief recovery that can be used for any child facing recovery from difficult life events.

Resilience among Nigerian transnational parents in the Netherlands: a strength‐based approach to migration and transnational parenting

AbstractIn this article, we adopt a strength‐based approach to transnational parenting. Recent studies have shown that not all transnational parents have a negative sense of well‐being. Here, we explore parental resilience over a lifespan to understand how mothers and fathers alleviate the strain of spatial separation from their children. Having established from a quantitative study on the same group that neither men nor women necessarily suffer emotionally from separation from their children, we report the findings of a qualitative study on 18 Nigerian men and women in the Netherlands. We look at the strategies and resources that parents employ to overcome the challenges of migration and transnational parenting, to forge a sense of identity and belonging in a migratory context, to ‘do family’ while spatially separated, to deal with the difficult life events associated with migration, and to maintain a sense of agency amid stringent migration regulations. By revealing the importance of cultural and individual resources in fostering resilience, the contribution of our study is to the literature on the influence of structural factors in the promotion of well‐being.

Management of work through the seasons of cancer survivorship.

Survival from cancer has expanded enormously over the past decades. It is estimated that 40-50% of all cancer survivors are of working age at time of diagnosis and thus potentially part of the labor force. The seasons of survivorship can be used as a steppingstone to describe issues regarding employability survivors are dealing with. The acute survival stage begins at the point of diagnosis. Disclosure of diagnosis, and flexibility of both employers and (occupational) healthcare professionals are important factors in this stage. Extended survival starts when the survivor has completed the basic course of treatment. Survivors become aware that the old normality at work will be difficult to achieve. Problems like fear of recurrence, cognitive, and physical limitations might intensify during this stage and affect work ability. Permanent survival can be called long-term remission. Prospective studies on work-related outcomes and work-related interventions in this stage are rare. It is important to improve our understanding of the seasons of survival and to explore concepts, such as employability, against the background of these seasons. This perspective may help both survivors and (occupational) healthcare professionals to develop better strategies for dealing with the difficult life event cancer represents in each specific stage.

The Development of Wisdom: A Social Ecological Approach.

This study examined the development of wisdom within the context of difficult life events (DLEs), and the importance of individuals and their social environments in this process of growth. Social support has long been studied in adulthood, yet less is known about the ways social transactions can promote wisdom. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with men (n = 14) and women (n = 36), ages 56-91 years (M = 71.71; SD = 8.8) who described a DLE and how they coped with it. The analysis was guided by constructivist grounded theory. DLEs included those from childhood through later life. When personal meaning was disrupted by adversity, the social environment played a key role in facilitating new perspectives that corresponded with aspects of wisdom: self-knowledge, compassion, comfort with uncertainty, and accepting complexity. Wisdom is often studied as an individual characteristic, but this study highlighted the relevance of a social ecological perspective to understanding how wisdom development is also facilitated through social transactions.

Religion-specific resources for meaning-making from suffering: defining the territory

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this review paper is to present a case for more proximal and emic approaches to the study of religious meaning-making in suffering. Meaning-making is an important way in which religion and spirituality contribute to adjustment in the context of encountering difficult life events. However, much of the available research on religious meaning-making ignores the contributions of specific religions to the meaning-making process. We begin by presenting a rationale for more sustained attention to religion-specific resources for meaning-making in suffering. Using Park’s meaning-making model as the organising framework, we then articulate how religions contribute unique global beliefs, situational beliefs, meaning-making processes, and valued outcomes to meaning-making. We illustrate these using existing research. Next, we suggest a refinement to Park’s model, offering a preliminary recursive model involving these identified components. We conclude with a brief prospectus informed by our model for future research.

Digital Storytelling: A Narrative Method for Positive Identity Development in Minority Youth

ABSTRACTThis article explores the use of digital storytelling as a group narrative method for positive identity development in the case of African American youth residing in economically disadvantaged, urban areas. Factors such as ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and/or violence exposure may heighten normal youth challenges and affect identity development. Narrative tools that help minority adolescents produce agentic, coherent, affective, and adaptive self-concepts contribute to a proactive identity system and, therefore, an enhanced capacity for them to intervene in their own lives. The purpose of the afterschool digital storytelling group was for youth to gain opportunities in media production and in personal story construction. As a result, youth gained a valuable narrative medium for constructing their stories, and thus their identities, into ones of possibility, promise, and potential. Implications for helping professionals include how to use digital storytelling with youth to gain insight and understanding into a personally difficult life event.

Faire face à une maladie grave à l’adolescence malgré un étayage parental défaillant : l’exemple du cancer

Facing a serious somatic disease during adolescence without any parental support is a very difficult life event. In this paper, we discuss the situation of teenagers facing deep emotional deprivation that existed prior to the illness and is reinforced by the lack of parental support during treatment. After analyzing the psychopathological mechanisms involved in such situations -in parents, teenagers, and healthcare teams- we hypothesize that the absence of involvement of parents can sometimes represent, for those who are not able to meet their child's emotional needs, a paradoxical way to take care of him.

Cultural Adaptation of a Dyadic Intervention for Korean Couples Coping with Alzheimer’s Disease

ABSTRACTObjectives: The Couples Life Story Approach (CLSA) was recently developed in the U.S. for older couples dealing with dementia to improve their quality of life. The purpose of this article is to describe how the CLSA was adapted to be culturally appropriate for older Korean couples and to discuss cultural themes that emerged during the implementation process.Methods: The intervention was adapted using the Cultural Adaptation Process Model. The revised materials were implemented on 56 Korean couples. A multiple case study method was used to analyze the clinical data.Results: Four cultural themes were identified: (1) dealing with negative memories in early years of marriage; (2) communication styles and patterns; (3) ways to incorporate difficult life events into the Life Story Book; and (4) complex dynamics of heirarchy in the relationship between older couples and the interventionist. With each theme, case examples are described that illustrate relevant issues.Conclusions: Cultural adaptation can be conducted systematically to improve the delivery of the CLSA for different populations.Clinical Implications: Cliniocians working with older Korean couples affected by dementia should consider cultural uniqueness in a life-story approach.

Significant life events as a journey of meaning making and change among at-risk youths

ABSTRACTThe study examined at-risk youths’ meaning making of their own significant life events and the contribution of these events to changes in their lives. Narrative interviews with 14 Israeli at-risk youths (aged 16–18) revealed three themes: (a) the event as a powerful, emotional-awakening experience; (b) self-inquiry following the event, differentiating between life before and after, and (c) biographical changes in the youths’ lives. Despite the diversity of the events, certain similarities were identified among them: they were perceived as surprising in their timing and intensity, as conveying a broader message, and as the cause of the youths’ choice to take responsibility for themselves and their interactions with significant others. Use of narrative theories of personality provides insight into at-risk youths’ meaning making of their difficult experiences. The deep exploration and construction of these experiences reveal the process in which difficult life events can lead to positive changes.

The Fizzling Effect: A Phenomenological Study on Suicidality Among Filipino Lesbian Women and Gay Men

Suicide is now the second leading cause of death among the 15- to 29-year-old age group (WHO in: Preventing suicide: a global imperative, executive summary, World Health Organization, Geneva, 2014. Retrieved from www.who.int/mental_health/suicide-prevention/exe_summary_english.pdf ). Current research supports the observation that suicidality is a critical concern among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender populations, who may be at greater risk than their heterosexual peers. Phenomenological methods were used to study the dynamics of lesbian women and gay men suicidality in the Philippines. A selection of five self-identified gay men and four self-identified lesbian women met the inclusion criteria of the study and, individually, went through an in-depth interview, consisting of two parts, namely the robotfoto and the semi-structured interview. Analyses went through reduction, description, and finding the essence. Three distinct but interrelated themes surfaced: effervescing dilemma, pressurizing turmoil, and fizzling explosion. These themes suggest that Filipino lesbian women and gay men may suffer from internalized stigma and heaving emotional turmoil, which contribute to suicidal ideation and self-injurious behaviors. Difficult life events may trigger an explosion of pent-up negative emotions, culminating in attempted suicide.

Hard-earned wisdom: Exploratory processing of difficult life experience is positively associated with wisdom.

Laypersons and experts believe that wisdom is cultivated through a diverse range of positive and negative life experiences. Yet, not all individuals with life experience are wise. We propose that one possible determinant of growth in wisdom from life experience is self-reflection. In a life span sample of adults (N = 94) ranging from 26 to 92 years of age, we examined wisdom's relationship to self-reflection by investigating "why" people report reflecting on the past (i.e., reminiscence functions) and "how" they reflect within autobiographical memories of difficult life events (i.e., autobiographical reasoning). We assessed wisdom using self-report, performance, and nomination approaches. Results indicated that wisdom was unrelated to the frequency of self-reflection; however, wiser people differed from others in their (a) reasons for reminiscence and (b) mode of autobiographical reasoning. Across 3 methods for assessing wisdom, wisdom was positively associated with exploratory processing of difficult life experience (meaning-making, personal growth), whereas redemptive processing (positive emotional reframing, event resolution) was positively associated with adjustment. This study suggests that developmental pathways in the wake of adversity may be partially determined by how individuals self-reflectively process significant life experiences. (PsycINFO Database Record

Beyond “PTSD”: How stories and artworks that “make strange” can serve as signposts on new maps toward the communalization of military trauma

The psychiatric system, in large part due to its reliance on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), has a tendency to pathologize ordinary human reactions to difficult life events, and to individualize treatments for “mental illness.” This article builds on existing literature that is critical of psychiatry and proposes that art and stories that ‘make strange’ and elude easy interpretation may serve as a powerful counterpoint or complement to the ‘standard way of doing things’ when it comes to mental health care. Using military trauma as an example, this article highlights the inadequacies of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a diagnostic category; and, drawing from critical literature in the field and the author’s own experiences working with groups of traumatized veterans, it illustrates how and why ancient mythology and modern art especially may serve as useful tools for those who are having problems with living. The ‘disorienting dilemmas’ and consciousness-raising discussions such works evoke have the potential to touch on vital, nuanced, and philosophical aspects of trauma and suffering that are too often overlooked by the psychiatric profession.Keywords: military trauma; mental health; modern art; theatre; ancient mythology; transformative learning; museums; PTSD.