Nada Martinek

A longitudinal study comparing bereavement phenomena in recently bereaved spouses, adult children and parents

Objective: The study investigated previous research findings and clinical impressions which indicated that the intensity of grief for parents who had lost a child was likely to be higher than that for widows/widowers, who in turn were likely to have more intense reactions than adult children losing a parent. Method: In order to compare the intensities of the bereavement reactions among representative community samples of bereaved spouses (n = 44), adult children (n = 40) and parents (n = 36), and to follow the course of such phenomena, a detailed Bereavement Questionnaire was administered at four time points over a 13–month period following the loss. Results: Measures based on items central to the construct of bereavement showed significant time and group differences in accordance with the proposed hypothesis. More global items associated with the construct of resolution showed a significant time effect, but without significant group differences. Conclusions: Evidence from this study supports the hypothesis that in non-clinical, community-based populations the frequency with which core bereavement phenomena are experienced is in the order: bereaved parents bereaved spouses bereaved adult children.

An International Perspective on Bereavement Related Concepts

This paper reports on part of a study which was aimed at assessing the views of leading researchers, theorists or clinicians working in the field of bereavement on key issues including, as reported here, concepts of different forms of grief as well as favoured theoretical orientations. Of a range of conceptual models the most favoured, by a large margin, were attachment theory and the psychodynamic model. The views of the “experts’ were canvassed with respect to the use of seven selected terms used to denote some variant of the grieving process. There was, on the part of the respondents, reasonable support for the syndromes of “delayed’, “chronic’, “anticipatory’ and “absent’ grief. “Inhibited’ and “unresolved’ grief tended to be described using one of the four terms already supported, while the use of the term “distorted grief’ attracted little support.

Intergenerational Aspects of Trauma for Australian Aboriginal People

Australian Aboriginal peoples constitute a multitude of tribal and cultural groups. Their presence on the Australian continental land mass can be established as going back as far as 60,000 years, and they represent the oldest continuous, identified culture of people in the world today. They were generally a nomadic people, although with different communities and family occupying relatively defined areas of land, their tribal lands. These lands were identified through knowledge passed down in oral traditions. Particular understandings and “Law” were held by tribal elders, but the rich cultural heritage was for the most part understood and valued by all peoples. There were over 600 languages and groups.

Concepts of normal bereavement

This study used a 25-item questionnaire to examine the perceptions of 128 people with a close interest in bereavement and its literature. The study is part of a project to identify key aspects and the bereavement process. Subjects were asked to rate their perceptions of key bereavement phenomena with regards their frequency in the acute and later stages of bereavement. Descriptive results are presented and discussed, and a profile of phenomena perceived to be common to both stages is outlined.