Terms Of Grief Research Articles

Relationship between Grief and Loss Counselling and Adjustment of Social Behaviours among the Elderly in Sigowet-Soin Sub County of Kericho County

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between grief and loss counselling and the adjustment of social behaviours among the elderly in Sigowet-Soin Sub County of Kericho County, Kenya. The study utilized a person-centered theory and adopted a concurrent mixed methods research design, incorporating both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The quantitative study employed an experimental design, while the qualitative study utilized a case study design. The target population consisted of 60 elderly individuals, with 30 selected for the study group and another 30 for the control group using stratified random sampling. Data collection involved the use of questionnaires and in-depth interviews, with research instruments validated by experts and supervisors. The reliability of the instruments was determined through a pilot study in Sigowet-Soin constituency, employing test-retest method and Pearson correlation coefficient. Quantitative analysis involved descriptive and inferential statistics, presenting findings through frequency distribution tables, diagrams, pie charts, and bar graphs. Qualitative data was analysed thematically. The study revealed no statistically significant differences between the intervention group and control group in terms of grief and loss counselling (p >0.05). Thus, the study concluded that grief and loss counselling interventions did not help improve the social behaviours of the elderly. Grief and loss counselling has no significant effect in enhancing social behaviour of the elderly. The assessment of the grief and loss social behaviour reveals the need for further analysis to understand the effective strategies to assist elderly people cope up with the profound losses. Since the program implemented was not statistically significant. Further studies can help the influential factors on depression, stress management, self-esteem and relationship problems among the elderly.

‘When they were taken it is like grieving’: Understanding and responding to the emotional impact of repeat care proceedings on fathers

AbstractThere is growing recognition, in the UK and internationally, of the huge costs of recurrent appearances of parents in local authority care proceedings. This paper contributes to pressing policy and practice concerns to reduce recurrence. It presents qualitative longitudinal data from the first study of fathers' experiences of recurrent care proceedings in England. Demonstrating the emotional impact of repeat proceedings and successive loss of children on fathers, in terms of grief, loss and shame, we highlight the trauma and abuse in their developmental histories. We consider complex connections between anger and shame for these fathers, including within the arena of family justice. With the use of literature on complex trauma, shame and parental disengagement, we explore ideas for re‐framing fathers', and professionals', resistance to engagement and for better understanding fathers' intense emotions. We suggest that the link between shame and complex trauma and the value of shame reducing, dignity promoting practice in response provide a valuable way forward for working with fathers. As is recognized to be the case for mothers, without holistic, empathic interventions to address the vulnerabilities of such fathers, the risks for children, mothers and fathers are unlikely to reduce.

Environmental crisis, narcissism and the work of grief

This article explores the relationship between environmental crisis, narcissism and the work of grief. In the first section, we provide an overview of the way narcissism has re-emerged in recent scholarship within cultural geography and environmental psychology. Developing and in part challenging the normative focus on selfish, self-destructive consumption that we identify as a major strand in the literature, we draw out themes of daunting loss. In the second section, these themes and processes are explicitly framed in terms of grief and connected to recent conceptualisations of the ‘Anthropocene’. We argue that narcissistic responses can be usefully reframed in terms of a variety of grief responses. Hence, we address the work of grief as multifaceted and multi-directional – encompassing bewilderment, denial and also creative re-imaginings provoked by the experience of loss. This point is further developed in the third section using an example from an advocate of ‘re-wilding’.

Risk of catastrophic injury in sports and recreation

Many factors have contributed to the increasing risk of sustaining a catastrophic injury in sports and recreation that has occurred in most countries. Greater involvement in high-risk activities, more aggressive play and advanced technology have increased the speed and force of collisions in team sports such as hockey and football, and in individual recreational activities such as snowmobiling or driving an all-terrain vehicle (ATV). There is also more public attention and greater participation in extreme manoeuvres in risky activities such as snowboarding, BMX and mountain bicycling, and paragliding. Thrill seekers are stimulated to attempt stunts and actions for which they are often untrained and unskilled. In some high-risk activities, alcohol, drugs and superficial media portrayal overcome or cloud the normal instinct towards risk aversion and self-protection. Unfortunately, catastrophic injuries are very costly in terms of grief, disappointment and financial burden for the participants, families and societies. The purpose of this article is to describe the problem of increased participation in an increasing array of risky sports and recreation activities and to offer some strategies for reducing the risk of catastrophic injury. Further research is required to identify and mitigate risk. It is also important for individuals and for societies to develop and propagate effective injury prevention strategies.

Coming out for Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays: From support group grieving to love advocacy

This article traces how a 1990s’ US social movement organization, PFLAG (Parents, Friends and Family of Lesbians and Gays) constitutes itself and its work by extending the story of coming out via particular emotional promises featured in its motivational framing. I trace how PFLAG’s motivational framing carefully balances a call to participate in terms of grief with a call to action in terms of love, thereby offering potential participants the ‘emotional promise’ of getting beyond negative feelings of homophobia to restore and celebrate the love for their offspring. I show how this motivational framing is tied to PFLAG’s dual mission of support and advocacy. Finally I discuss how these emotional framings are tied to two political logics resonating in LGBT movement work at the time, noting that love operates well to motivate an identity logic (‘supporting LGBT people’) but does not work as well to motivate an interest-group logic (‘fighting for LGBT equality’).

Unresolved grief in women and men in Sweden three years after undergoing unsuccessful in vitro fertilization treatment

Objective. To explore the experience of undergoing unsuccessful in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment and of remaining childless 3 years after IVF in both women and men. Design. Qualitative-approach study. Sample. Ten women and nine men who had attended a public fertility clinic in Sweden. Methods. Individual qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with qualitative content analysis guiding the analysis. Results. Three years after the end of IVF treatment, most men and women were still processing and had not adapted to childlessness, indicating that the grieving process was unresolved. Unsuccessful IVF was experienced by women in terms of grief, whereas men took upon themselves a supportive role and did not express grief. A need for professional support and counseling in how to handle grief was described. An unstructured end after IVF treatment left unanswered questions. Conclusions. The grieving process after unsuccessful IVF treatment was hampered among both men and women. The provision of additional individual support during IVF is recommended as men and women experienced childlessness differently. Support and counseling concerning grief reactions following IVF failure, and a structured final consultation after IVF may facilitate the grieving process after undergoing unsuccessful IVF treatment.

“Now we have to cope with the rest of our lives”. Existential issues related to parenting a child surviving a brain tumour

The aim of the paper was to explore the existential issues expressed by parents of children who had been treated for brain tumours. A brain tumour in childhood is an event that triggers acute traumatic stress and it has long-term consequences for the child as well as for the parents. Due to advanced treatment techniques, more children survive brain tumours today. However, for most survivors a brain tumour is associated with sequelae and uncertainty about the future. Eleven parents of seven children successfully treated for brain tumours were interviewed in 2006. The semi-structured interviews were conducted by two licensed psychologists. The Inductive Thematic method was used to analyse the data. Consequences of a perceived threat, uncertainty and loss were described in terms of grief and sadness, loneliness, changes in the conditions for parenting, and changed views regarding identity and meaning. A traumatic experience is typically followed by an existential crisis, i.e. a process of restoring the person's assumptive world. As summarized by one parent: "Now we have to cope with the rest of our lives". The statement can be seen as a metaphor for the reconstruction of everyday life - a new picture including the child's disease and its sequelae, as well as the uncertainty about what the future might be like. The findings underscore the importance of the social network, validating and supporting parents through this process. Moreover, in this social network the paediatric oncology and neurology care is a significant part.