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Children, young people and bereavement
Abstract
A concise review of the research evidence in this area for use by professionals and practitioners working with children and young people.
... According to research undertaken by Oltjenburns (2001), Ribbens McCarthy and Jessop (2005), Rostila, Saarela, and Kawachi (2012), sibling grief and distress after a brother or a sister dies can be prolonged and re-surface at times of young peoples' transitions or changed life experiences. Rosenberg et al's (2015) study of the longterm psychosocial outcomes among bereaved siblings of children with cancer provided evidence that bereavement impacted on transitions in education and career choices. ...
... Ribbens McCarthy and Jessop (2005) purported that bereavement contributed to a decline in young peoples' academic performance. Although this topic was not explored in this research, five of the siblings interviewed had been to university and one was currently undertaking training as a GP. ...
... may be at particular risk where they have experienced a significant loss(Ribbens McCarthy & Jessop, 2005). Conversely,Luthar and Cicchetti (2000) andGrotberg (2001) purport that providing young people receive adequate support they may adapt positively to bereavement. ...
It is estimated that rare diseases affect the lives of over three million people in the United Kingdom. Of these, a significant proportion are children and young people with genetic life-limiting or life-shortening conditions. This study used a qualitative approach with in-depth semi-structured interviews to explore the experiences of 10 adult siblings of a baby diagnosed with Trisomy 13 (Patau syndrome) or Trisomy 18 (Edward syndrome). Findings illustrate that parental grief from the time of their child's diagnosis onward is also experienced by siblings. Although young adults may have conflicting feelings as a bereaved sibling, there is evidence that the experience impacts on their world views and their attitudes about prospective and expectant parenthood. The study highlights the importance of providing siblings with short-term and long-term support from the time of their brother's or their sister's diagnosis onward and provides new understanding about benefit of professional and peer support in helping young adults develop resilience and coping strategies.
... Ribbens McCarthy and Jessop (2005) found that bereavement in childhood can affect educational and employment achievements, and result in children leaving home early, experiencing early sexual and partnering activities. ...
This study compared the perceptions of bereavement in North Suffolk and Hull schools. Hull is a mature area in terms of training and support, North Suffolk is a developing area. The majority of schools in both areas rated bereavement as a high priority. Hull schools had more trained staff and were more self-sufficient after bereavement, having clearer referral routes and more policies in place. Training needs were identified in both areas, although the ‘training gap’ was less in Hull schools. The areas had different approaches to pupil bereavement; North Suffolk schools had access to a ‘bereavement box’. Schools in Hull had access to the Lost for Words training project that was developed in the city with Dove House the local hospice. Recommendations are made for local authorities and schools.
... The literature suggests that the death of a parent may have a significant impact on children, especially without adequate support. Ribbens McCarthy, and Jessop (2005) found that it may affect children's future educational and employment achievements. Children may leave home early, have early sexual and partnering experiences and teenage pregnancies. ...
This was a research project carried out in North Yorkshire schools by the loss and bereavement research group of the Educational Psychology Service. The background was an interest in how schools responded to bereaved pupils, whether they had a structured response, trained staff and training needs, from where they sought support and the level of priority given to the area. All three hundred and fifty-three of the county’s primary, secondary and special schools were surveyed by electronic questionnaire and seventy-two, 20%, responded. Parental bereavement was rated relatively highly, although most schools sought outside help after a parental death, a need for training was expressed and there were no consistent support or referral pathways. Schools tended to have an ad hoc response, few had policies, procedures or governors actively involved in the area. Loss was addressed in the curriculum by a third of schools, and a similar number had received training. Schools did not always have a clear understanding of the implications of pupil loss generally with and a narrow view of loss. Recommendations included an increase in training, taking a wider view of loss and having clear referral pathways. Ideas for further areas of research included looking in more detail at schools systems in the area of loss and bereavement.
... Despite the bereavement literature benefiting from several North American qualitative studies exploring children's reactions to the death of a parent (e.g., Christ, 2000;Silverman & Worden, 1993), there is still a shortage of research which looks specifically at the experiences of young people (Ribbens McCarthy & Jessop, 2005). In part, this has been attributed to the difficulty in accessing samples of recently bereaved children. ...
Drawing on data generated from a two-year ethnographic study of the Rocky Centre (achildhood bereavement organisation in the UK), this article explores the positive changes and themes of posttraumatic growth experienced by parentally bereaved young people. Although the broader study generated data from participant observation, interviews and a documentary analysis, this article focuses specifically on the interviews with 13 young people to identify the themes of posttraumatic growth that emerged from the participants' narratives. Of these, four had been recently bereaved and nine had experienced the death of a parent over 10 years ago. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed for themes that reflected the young people's experiences of growing through grief. Those identified were as follows: positive outlook, gratitude, appreciation of life, living life to the full, and altruism. Each theme isdiscussed in turn, and the implications of the findings for research and practice are addressed.
... Despite the bereavement literature benefiting from several North American qualitative studies exploring children's reactions to the death of a parent (e.g., Christ, 2000;Silverman & Worden, 1993), there is still a shortage of research which looks specifically at the experiences of young people (Ribbens McCarthy & Jessop, 2005). In part, this has been attributed to the difficulty in accessing samples of recently bereaved children. ...
The purpose of this two-year ethnographic study was to explore the experiences of parentally bereaved young people who sought support from the Rocky Centre (a pseudonym), a childhood bereavement service in the United Kingdom. Data were generated from extended periods of participant observation and semi-structured interviews with both staff and service users. In this article we focus specifically on the interviews with 13 young people to elucidate the factors that helped them to live with parental bereavement. Of these participants, four had been recently bereaved and nine had experienced the death of a parent over ten years ago. Seven key themes emerged from the analysis of the interview data: expressing emotion, physical activity, positive adult relationship(s), area of competence, friendships/social support, having fun/humour and transcendence. These themes are discussed in turn, and implications for research and practice are addressed.
... A center, such as that in Australia (The Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement, 2007), could become the focus for such co-ordination providing a platform for discussion and raising awareness about death, dying, and bereavement (Á rnason & Hafsteinsson, 2003). Such a center also has a role in highlighting the health and economic consequences of bereavement (Parkes, 2001;Ribbens-McCarthy & Jessop, 2005) and could, in public health terms, raise awareness just as campaigns for heart disease or smoking have done in past years. Participants in this study advocate an educational approach to awareness raising that is all encompassing and begins with schoolaged children. ...
The interview study described here aimed to explore current views of and practice in bereavement care and identify priorities for service development in Scotland. Fifty-nine participants who worked with the bereaved in some way, or whose interest was in bereavement or bereavement care, were interviewed. They represented National Health Service organizations, chaplaincy departments, educational institutions, academic departments, voluntary groups, and other related bodies, such as funeral directors. Transcripts were read repeatedly and initial emerging themes were identified, coded and shared between research team members to reach a consensus for key themes. Priority areas for development were related to raising public awareness, coordination of services, guidance, and professional education.
... Therefore it may be beneficial to look at whether hospice-based support services for children directly associated with a particular hospice are the most efficient use of resources, or whether their expertise would be better spent developing community-based support services for the larger population of bereaved children. 4,19 Given the social and academic problems that bereaved children in this study were said by parents to have sometimes encountered within the school environment, the child bereavement support staff may want to consider dividing their time so that more work focuses on facilitating bereavement education in schools. ...
To determine parents' experiences and perceptions of a support service for families with bereaved children, provided by a UK charity for cancer patients in seven hospices in the UK.
Individual interviews with 25 purposively selected parents.
Parents used the service for: advice and reassurance; support for their children while they grieved; and advice on ameliorating behavioural difficulties at home and school. Non-service users did not think formalised support was necessary or had other sufficient support. Nevertheless, important to parents in both groups was that the service existed so their children's needs were being or could be addressed. Children and their parents benefited from talking to a non-family member, and being involved in social events that reduced feelings of isolation.
The hospice child bereavement service was offered as an integral part of palliative cancer care support. Future research could explore collaborative work between counsellors and other professionals.
The purpose of this study was to critically evaluate the impact of the Seasons for Growth (SFG) programme for pupils experiencing loss and change. SFG is a manualised group intervention led by a trained facilitator (a 'companion') for young people aged 6 to 18 who have experienced significant loss (Graham, 1996). A repeated measures design was used whereby two groups of Year 7 and Year 8 pupils (N=5; N=7) took part in the study, within a mainstream secondary school. Pupils' self-ratings of anxiety, self-concept, depression and emotional resiliency were collected pre-intervention, post-intervention and, at two-month follow-up. All pupils were interviewed individually to explore their experiences and perceptions of the SFG programme. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the data provided evidence that the SFG programme had a positive and significant impact on pupils' emotional health and coping behaviours. The findings of this study are discussed in relation to the wider theoretical framework and the practice of educational and child psychology.
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