Higher Levels Of Grief Research Articles

Critical Incident Stress Debriefing: An Examination of Public Services Personnel and Their Responses to Critical Incident Stress

This study is a secondary analysis of data obtained during a 1993 survey of public service personnel in a midwestern community. The purposes of the original research were to discover if differences exist in the responses of public service personnel who have cared for known versus unknown victims, to examine differences that may exist among the overall responses of those personnel working in a small urban area versus a metropolitan area, and to assess for familiarity with critical incident stress debriefing (CISD) services. The current analysis found an increase in symptomatology when the victim is known, with visualization being the most prominent symptom reported. Respondents who had cared for known victims reported much higher levels of grief. Personnel working in a larger rural service area reported a greater familiarity with CISD services. However, no significant differences were found in the responses of public service personnel who had cared for known versus unknown victims, when the variables of years of work experience, paid versus volunteer position, gender, and population size of service area were introduced.

The Relationships Among Grief Experience, Problem-Solving Appraisal, and Depression: An Exploratory Study

Research has consistently shown a relationship between problem-solving appraisal and depressive symptoms. This study expands that research by including grief symptomatology as a variable. A college student sample completed the Problem-Solving inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Revised Grief Experience Inventory. Consistent with hypotheses, those individuals who had experienced the death of a close loved one within the previous 5 years reported significantly higher levels of grief and depression than those who had not experienced such a loss. However, the group that had experienced the death of a close loved one did not report significantly worse problem-solving scores than the group that did not. This study also examined the relationships among problem-solving appraisal, depressive symptoms, and grief symptoms within the subsample that had experienced the loss of a close loved one within the previous 5 years. Consistent with predictions, grief symptoms were associated with depressive symptoms and self-appraised ineffective problem solving. The results of this study extend the research on grief and mourning. Also, the results expand our understanding of the grief process by providing preliminary evidence for the role of problem solving in this process

Birth mother loss: Contributing factors to unresolved grief

This study examined several key social and psychological variables that may impede the grief process for women who have relinquished an infant for adoption. 264 women, eighteen years or older, participated in the study. A major finding of the study was that higher levels of grief were associated with the birth mother's perception that she was coerced into relinquishment by others. It was also found that higher levels of grief were associated with feelings of guilt and shame regarding the decision to relinquish.

Variables contributing to experiences of grief in HIV/AIDS health care professionals

High patient death rates and frequent patient re-admissions are among the factors that contribute to experiences of grief in health care professionals working in the area of HIV/AIDS. This study of 134 Australian health care professionals examines why grief about patient loss is more likely to affect some people than others, the effect of high levels of grief on staff, and the effectiveness of methods of coping with the loss of patients. The variables examined included identification with patients, anxiety, social recognition and reward, gay affiliation, stigma, social support (belonging and tangible), stress, relationship stability, and burnout (depersonalization, emotional exhaustion, and lack of personal accomplishment). A regression analysis found that a group of predictors accounted for 61% of the variance in grief scores. The results indicated that grief was associated with higher levels of identification with patients and anxiety. Higher levels of grief were associated with burnout due to lack of personal accomplishment. Lower levels of grief were associated with burnout related to depersonalization. Reliance on internal coping strategies and social support-belonging were associated with lower levels of grief. Results suggest that staff should be taught ways of separating their work and private lives to reduce the risks of overidentification with patients. Teaching techniques for reducing anxiety, providing support groups for staff, and encouraging the use of coping strategies that emphasize personal agency could reduce the intense feelings of grief experienced by many.

Maternal Grief after Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

Six months after the death of their infants of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), the subjective impression of mothers anonymously rating their initial and present grief was that there had been a reduction in all symptoms (p < .001). However, an increase in the relative ranking of some cognitive symptoms over somatic ones, the association of certain lifestyles and situational variables with higher levels of grief, and the implication for future symptoms of family decisions made during bereavement underscore the importance of continuing active support for these families. In relative ranking, guilt rose from 10th to 5th most prominent symptom, particularly among the 34% of mothers whose infants manifested clinical symptoms (p < .05). Single mothers had higher grief scores both initially (p < .05) and at 6 months (p < .002), were almost three times more likely to become pregnant within 6 months of the death but only one-third as likely to attend a support group, and were also more likely to move after the death (44% vs 25%). Mothers whose infants had been discovered by another caregiver reached out more to a crisis intervention service of a support program available to SIDS families (p < .05). Mothers without surviving children had grief levels comparable with those with children but were less likely to rate their pediatrician's support as satisfactory, increasing the probability that they would change physicians with subsequent children, thereby losing continuity of care and support.

Perceived Changes in Life Meaning following Bereavement

Much research has documented the negative sequelae associated with death of a loved one. The goal of the present study was to investigate the possibility, alluded to by existential and humanistic theorists, that positive aspects of bereavement exist. College students who recently experienced the death of a close family member completed measures of grief-related distress, existential meaning, and answered open-ended questions regarding perceived changes in belief in God and life goals occurring as a result of their experience. A significant inverse relationship was found between grief and existential meaning. The majority of the sample reported a positive change in life goals, and these individuals had significantly higher existential meaning than those who reported a negative change in goals. Those who experienced change (positive or negative) in belief in God had higher levels of grief than those who reported no change. These results suggest that positive changes are associated with bereavement and that grief itself may serve as an impetus for personal growth.

Grief Responses of Spouses following the Death of a Child: A Longitudinal Study

Thirty-three bereaved husbands and wives whose child had died completed the Grief Experience Inventory at three different times over a one-year period. A repeated-measures MANOVA found significant differences between grief levels of spouses' responses and/or differences over time in ten of the twelve variables studied: denial, despair, guilt, loss of control, rumination, depersonalization, somatization, death anxiety, vigor, and physical strength. A Pearson product-moment correlation indicated that spouses' negative feelings about their marriages were significantly correlated, in a positive direction, with higher levels of grief following the child's death. At the end of the year-long study, however, there were few significant relationships between levels of grief and negative feelings about their marriages for wives and none for husbands.