COPING APPRAISALS

How Do Coping Appraisals Affect Grief Reaction After Bereavement?

ABSTRACT

Over the last three decades the perception of bereavement and grieving has expanded from private and individual processes to include several interpersonal factors including social risk, effectiveness of intervention and the consequences of bereavement on wider social and community welfare. The aim of this exploratory research was to acquire a deeper understanding of the experiences of parents after the loss of a child and to investigate whether the timing of supportive interventions has any significant impact on coping. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine women to understand the background to the loss and how it impacted on the interviewees' inter- and intrapersonal relationships. Participants shared the effects of loss, related experiences of helpful and unhelpful methods of coping and discussed external factors that which facilitated or hindered effective coping. They also shared their views on why they sought professional help and whether it was beneficial, and which aspects were helpful.

Table of contents

ABSTRACT2

INTRODUCTION4

MOTIVATION AND AIM OF THE STUDY4

1.1 GENERAL PROBLEM STATEMENT4

1.2LITERATURE REVIEW: BEREAVEMENT, GRIEF AND MOURNING6

NORMAL AND CHRONIC OR COMPLICATED GRIEF6

COPING APPRAISALS7

2.INTRODUCTION TO THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS10

2.1What is so unique about a loss of a child:10

2.2How do people make sense or cope after their loss:10

2.3Is there a right time for professional therapeutic intervention?.10

2.1What is so unique about a loss of a child?10

2.2: How do people make sense or adapt to life after their loss?.11

2.3: Is there a right time for professional therapeutic intervention?13

3. METHODOLOGY17

3.1 Participants and Sampling17

3.2 Methods Used in Gathering Data19

THE QUESTIONNAIRE20

Statistics23

Results24

4. DISCUSSION29

5.CONCLUSION52

Referencres54

How do coping appraisals affect grief reaction after bereavement?

INTRODUCTION

MOTIVATION AND AIM OF THE STUDY

The motivation of this study arose from the researcher's own practical experience of working for bereavement counselling services for three years. As a counsellor, trained in 'Integrative Counselling' the researcher often felt overwhelmed but also inadequate in front of the pain and grief of parents who had lost a child, and who had sought counselling looking for answers and making sense of their lives. She discovered that parents seek counselling after vastly variable lengths of time following bereavement, ranging from one week to thirty years. This gives rise to the following key questions:

When and why do people seek counselling following bereavement?

Is there any critical time for professional therapeutic intervention?

How do individuals appraise the stressors and what coping strategies do they use?

Is there any preference for coping strategies?

1.1 GENERAL PROBLEM STATEMENT

The starting point of this research was the interest in gaining deeper understanding of how people cope with their lives after the death of a child. It breaks all norms of the life cycle (Worden, 2006; Walter, 1999; Riches and Dawson, 2000; Talbot, 2002; Parkes, 2006). In addition to the shift in research interest from interpersonal to intrapersonal relationships, research has also been focussed on the search for processes underlying the manifestations of grief and the time span of grief. (Stroebe, et al, 2002). Greater attention is being given to human diversity alongside the need to find conceptual frameworks for describing ...