Writing projects: lessening undergraduates' unique suicidal bereavement.
To assess if writing projects lessen undergraduates' grief following a loved one's suicide, 40 students whose loved one died by suicide in the past 2 years wrote on four occasions over 2 weeks about profound topics (e.g., events and emotions surrounding the death) or trivial topics (e.g., description of the previous meal). All participants completed pre- and posttest measures of grief and self-reported health visits, and 75% completed the same measures at 6-week mailed follow-up. As expected, individuals in the profound condition reported less grief associated with suicide at follow-up than those in the trivial condition. However, the trivial and profound groups were not significantly different in general grief or health visits. Writing about grief associated with the suicide of a loved one appeared to reduce suicidal grief associated with this event. However, this benefit did not extend to general grief or physical health.
Kovac
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University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg 39406-5025, USA.
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D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001293:Attitude to Death; D001601:Bereavement; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012944:Social Support; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D013405:Suicide; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014705:Verbal Behavior