Preventive intervention following accidental death of a child.
This paper describes the development and pilot testing of an empirically and theoretically based preventive intervention program for bereaved parents whose adolescent and young adult children died suddenly following an accident. The parents were assigned to either an early (2-6 months postloss) or a later (7-13 months postloss) transition group (N = 15) in which they received two-dimensional preventive intervention: informational support and emotional support. A comparison group (N = 19) received no intervention. Weekly and summative evaluations completed by bereaved parents and group leaders showed the therapeutic benefits of the preventive intervention for both treated groups. However, the two groups responded differently to the interventions, suggesting that timing and type of support might both be important factors to consider.
Murphy
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D000059:Accidents; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003419:Crisis Intervention; D003643:Death; D006117:Grief; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012944:Social Support