Social support following bereavement: The role of beliefs, expectations, and support intentions (original) (raw)
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What determines supportive behaviors following bereavement? A systematic review and call to action
Death Studies
Very few factors that impact the grieving process can be modified after the fact to the extent that social support can. However, social support has received limited research attention, resulting in little conceptual understanding of the mechanisms behind perceptions of, and intentions to support, grieving persons. This systematic review aimed to explore bereaved, decedent, and respondent-related determinants of the provision of social support. The review yielded 42 studies impacted by various methodological and sampling limitations. This review poses a call to the field for more rigorous study of social support determinants to better assist the bereaved and their natural supporters.
Palliative medicine, 2018
To determine who provides bereavement support in the community, what sources are perceived to be the most or least helpful and for what reason, and to identify the empirical elements for optimal support in developing any future compassionate communities approach in palliative care. A population-based cross-sectional investigation of bereavement experiences. Sources of support (informal, community and professional) were categorised according to the Public Health Model of Bereavement Support; most helpful reasons were categorised using the Social Provisions Scale, and least helpful were analysed using inductive content analysis. Bereaved people were recruited from databases of funeral providers in Australia via an anonymous postal survey (2013-2014). In total, 678 bereaved people responded to the survey. The most frequently used sources of support were in the informal category such as family, friends and funeral providers. While the professional category sources were the least used, t...
The Role of Social Support in Bereavement
Journal of Social Issues, 1988
Spousal bereavement involves a social network crisis. The individual's response is influenced by prebereavement personality factors and preexisting social network characteristics. The impact of the loss on the individual and other network members, and the presence or absence of concurrent stressors, will determine the "goodness offit" between the support offered and the needs of the bereaved and perception of the environment as helpful or unhelpful. An inadequate social network is associated with high distress over the course of bereavement. Intervention aimed at increasing social support can decrease the distress of bereavement.
Social support in bereavement: Developing and validating a new scale
International Journal of Psychology, 2021
Although social support has been considered to be beneficial for the bereaved, mixed findings exist in the literature. This may be due to variations in conceptualising and measuring social support. This study aims to offer a new validated scale for research on social support in bereavement. Part 1 describes the generation of the item pool, which was derived from narratives of 28 bereaved Chinese. Part 2 includes the items selected using item analysis and explanatory factor analysis to form the preliminary version of the Scale of Social Support in Bereavement (SSB) based on data collected from 195 bereaved adults. Part 3 examined the psychometric properties of the newly developed SSB with a sample of another 196 bereaved adults. The results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated a useful structure of four factors, including "living support," "economic support," "grief processing," and "emotion restoration." The convergent validity, internal consistency reliability and test-retest reliability of the measure were shown to be strong. SSB is the first scale which measures comprehensive types of support in bereavement. It can be applied in exploration of the role of social support in bereavement, and validated in different cultural contexts.
Building Community Capacity in Bereavement Support: Lessons Learnt From Bereaved Caregivers
The American journal of hospice & palliative care, 2015
Most bereaved people do not require specialist intervention, yet building community capacity in providing bereavement support is underdeveloped. While family caregivers indicate a need for more information about bereavement, there is little evidence to guide what this information might contain. The study's purpose was to inform bereavement support by determining the advice people bereaved through expected deaths in palliative care have for others in that situation. Four funeral providers posted a questionnaire to previous clients who had used their services 6 to 24 months prior and 678 bereaved people responded. The sample size for this study comprised 265 bereaved people whose relative used palliative care services. The questionnaire comprised 82 questions about caregiving, bereavement support, current bereavement-related distress, and 2 open-ended questions concerning their bereavement, one of them on advice they have to other people in the same situation. Family caregivers (n...
Does Social Support Help in Bereavement
Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 2005
A review of studies on the role of social support as a moderator of bereavement outcome indicates that there is limited evidence for the widely held assumption that social support buffers the bereaved against the impact of the loss experience and/or facilitates recovery. A test of the buffering/recovery hypothesis is reported, which is based on data from the Changing Lives of Older Couples (CLOC) study, a prospective study of 1,532 married individuals aged 65 and older. Information from women who became bereaved during the study, on social support and depression measured before, and six, 18, and 48 months after bereavement, was used. There was a main effect of social support on depressive symptoms, but no indication for either a buffering or a recovery effect. Theoretical implications are discussed.
Psychologica Belgica, 2010
Can other persons, personally or professionally, help bereaved individuals deal with the loss of a loved one? An increasing number of empirical studies, as well as qualitative and quantitative reviews, have addressed this question. Here, the main findings are summarised and implications for researchers and practitioners considered. First, provision of help from the informal social network and volunteers/professionals in the post-loss period is examined. Second, and uniquely in this research area, examination is extended to the efficacy of intervention for family members prior to their bereavement (i.e., in the context of palliative/end-of-life care). To what extent do the pre-loss patterns mirror those for post-bereavement intervention efficacy? A main conclusion is that intervention is not effective for bereaved persons in general, either when this is provided before or after the actual loss. It is important to identify and target high-risk persons. Further scientific and clinical implications of the patterns of results are discussed.
What is good grief support? Exploring the actors and actions in social support after traumatic grief
PLOS ONE, 2021
Social support seems to enhance wellbeing and health in many populations. Conversely, poor social support and loneliness are a social determinant of poor health outcomes and can adversely affect physical, emotional, and mental well-being. Social support is especially important in traumatic grief. However, the ways in which grieving individuals interpret and define social support is not well understood, and little is known about what specific behaviours are perceived as helpful. Using qualitative description and content analysis, this study assessed bereaved individuals’ satisfaction of social support in traumatic grief, using four categories of social support as a framework. Findings suggest inadequate satisfaction from professional, familial, and community support. Pets emerged with the most satisfactory ratings. Further, findings suggest that emotional support is the most desired type of support following traumatic loss. Implications for supporting bereaved individuals within and ...
Online mutual support in bereavement: An empirical examination
Computers in Human Behavior, 2010
Thus far, online mutual bereavement support has not been the subject of rigorous empirical examination, despite the fact that this type of support is rapidly growing. Assessment is needed, not only to establish whether there are desirable effects, but also whether there could be negative side effects. This study was designed to increase our understanding of the people who use online mutual bereavement support and provide a preliminary examination of its potential to ameliorate their suffering. Our findings show that people who are currently using online mutual bereavement support are younger, less likely to be part of a religious community, and more likely to have lost a child than bereaved people who had never used this type of support. The former group also shows worse mental health and reports lower levels of social support than people who had stopped using online mutual bereavement support. There was no indication that people who seek out online mutual bereavement support were more likely to live in remote, rural areas than people who do not use this type of support. Using this type of support did not predict changes in mental health over time. Implications of these findings are discussed.