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A study explored maternal response to the diagnosis of mental retardation in children using a focus group of six mothers. Findings identified four themes: differences between antenatal and postnatal diagnosis; a cycle of bereavement; issues relating to causation; and examples of poor interpersonal skills from medical personnel. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Provides an overview of how young children understand death, and offers concrete strategies for talking to children about death and suggestions for teachers about how to help children of various ages through grief and mourning. Highlights developmental differences in four components of children's understanding of death: irreversibility, finality, inevitability, and causality. (Author/KB)

Describes how young children's perceptions of death relate to their stage of cognitive development. Discusses basic responsibilities of teachers regarding death education in early childhood settings: helping children feel safe while acknowledging the reality of death, promoting an accepting classroom atmosphere, and providing developmentally appropriate learning opportunities to allow children to discuss death. Includes resources for 3- to 12- year-olds. (KB)

This study, based on adolescents in Northern England, estimated the prevalence of bereavement and the association between bereavement and depressive symptoms as well as attitudes of bereaved young people to professional interventions. The impact of loss of someone close depended to an extent on the young person's perception of how the loss had changed their lives. (BF)

This study examined the relationship between widowed persons' baseline assessments of self-efficacy beliefs and their ratings of perceived health-related quality of life, life sanctions, and self-esteem obtained in an 18-month follow-up. Results revealed widows and widowers differ significantly with respect to self-efficacy and perceived quality of life in the longer term following spousal loss. (Author)

Evaluates the effects of two group interventions, the Bereavement Group Postvention and the Social Group Postvention, on bereavement outcomes in widowed survivors of suicide. The goals were to determine if group interventions would significantly decrease levels of depression, psychological distress, and grief, as well as significantly increase level of social adjustment among widowed survivors of suicide. (Author)

Evaluation of multidisciplinary team teaching about ongoing bereavement in an eldercare unit found that participants appreciated opportunities to discuss their experiences. Practice changes were observed in listening and receiving suggestions, although no changes were made in the way they worked with residents. (Contains 26 references.) (SK)

Schools are sometimes the last to know when a child loses a parent. What some counselors and teachers may assume is misbehavior could actually be indications of grief. This article focuses on helping school counselors recognize some of the symptoms of childhood grief and what to do about them. (GCP)

Examined social support following loss of a peer, grandparent, or other person among adolescents 17 to 20 years old. Found that 70.6 percent had experienced loss, and 43.5 percent had experienced peer loss. Participants rated peers and parents as the most helpful supports. Comparisons of loss were difficult because few participants had lost a sibling or a parent. (Author/KB)

Students (N=40) whose loved one had died by suicide in the past two years, were assessed as to whether writing projects lessen their grief. All participants competed pre- and posttest measures of grief. Determined that writing about grief associated with suicide of a loved one appeared to reduce suicidal grief but did not extend to general grief or physical health. (Author/JDM)

Discusses a pedagogy for teaching middle school students how to grieve when one of their classmates dies. Considers the steps of the grieving process, and dealing with different types of death: murder, suicide, accidents, and illness. (JPB)

At a New York City school, a parent's death is a community tragedy. Caring for a bereaved student requires a generous investment of time and heart: participation in bereavement rituals; acceptance of wide-ranging emotions; increased individual attention; reliable, consistent routines; physical warmth and comforting; and gentle, honest dialogue. (MLH)

Provides a discussion of the multiple dimensions of the grieving process. Using an example of an Italian American family, it also shows how to assist bereaved families as they cope with loss in the context of individual, familial, and social/cultural influences. (Contains 29 references.) (GCP)

Study replicates a previous study with early childhood teachers while also including the Death Attitude Profile-Revised. This study establishes teacher attitudes toward death and dying and their self-perceived ability to assist grieving students. Both quantitative and qualitative findings indicate need for further teacher preparation in dealing with bereaved children. (Author/GCP)

Following the accidental death of a classmate, 26 fellow 8th grade students completed a questionnaire to assess their reactions. Students strongly endorsed the school's response following the death. However, close friends from outside this particular class went largely unnoticed. Recommends that assistance be based on a clear understanding of the grief hierarchy and given to those who continue to grieve. (Author/JDM)

Describes a research-based self-care health education program for recently widowed people. Program aims to provide a foundation of knowledge, motivation, and encouragement to initiate positive behavioral changes, and to establish a support network. Preliminary analysis suggests the program is achieving many of the intended outcomes. (Author/JDM)

Describes how children develop a concept of death, and presents suggestions for classroom experiences to help young children cope with death. Considers children's attendance at funerals and how to answer children's questions about death. Lists 14 children's books about death. (KB)

Widowed and divorced women were studied to test a counteractive model of stress, social support, and distress. Stress following the loss of a spouse led to social and psychological distress the following year; however, mixed effects were found for various conditions of support. Results and future research are discussed. (EMK)

Maintains that Josephs (1998) identifies a new and significant research question: how individuals relate to loved one's death through an imaginary dialog created in an "as-if" manner. Discusses the issues of how adults' as-if activities are related to children's pretend play and how such dialogs might transform the self over time. Considers use of illustrations as a research methodology. (Author/KB)

Argues that an "as-if" mode of making sense of the world is an important characteristic of human development across all age groups. Illustrates the role of as-if functioning in adults following loss of a loved one, maintaining that self-reorganization centers on the grave as a physical and symbolic entity and the deceased as an internalized dialogic partner. (Author)

A model is presented for a telephone support group for bereaved mothers scattered geographically. Twelve monthly sessions are described, including the plan for the group and examples of conversations and insights. Group dynamics are discussed. The descriptive data and discussion of process provide an evaluation of group effectiveness. (EMK)

Describes Project HOPE (New York), a psycho-social support program for noninfected children of HIV-positive parents, including the challenges of starting and implementing the program's psychotherapy group for grieving adolescents and clinical examples of group process and effective interventions in group leadership. Explicates the four stages in group development--safety, dependency, counterdependency, and independence--paralleling the adolescent separation-individuation process. (Author/EV)

The experience of grieving the loss of a spouse varies with many factors. Models of the mourning process are reviewed. The roles of thought and memory in the survivor's attempts to move into a new life and identity are discussed. Argues for the inappropriateness of establishing expectations for the nature and duration of grief. (EMK)

Based on Applegate's hierarchy of comforting strategies, this study assessed the effects of verbal and nonverbal planning on the perceived appropriateness of comforting communication in hypothetical scenarios. Results are discussed in terms of reflection-enhancing relational strategies and the bereavement counselors' perspectives of the effects on surviving family members. (Author/EMK)

Children who are supported in grieving appropriately gain strength from these experiences. Many factors affect children's responses and their emotional experience. The problems children of different ages face in grieving and the ways adults can help are discussed. Terms are defined; suggestions for parents, teachers, and counselors are presented. (EMK)

Children do not often develop the skills and resources with which to grieve because they are routinely left out of the process. This article describes an ethnographic evaluation of an educational grief program based on mental health rehabilitation theory. The process includes a focus on improving competencies and behaviors. (EMK)

Women (N=46) with ultrasound-diagnosed lethal fetal anomaly in late pregnancy were studied. Psychological instability, general psychological distress, depression, and despair were measured over four years and related to normal versus "neurotic" personality dispositions. Findings are presented; the need for medical intervention, emotional support, and psychosocial screening is discussed. (Author/EMK)

Describes the author's odyssey, first of shock and grief at the death of one daughter and the serious injury of another; then of slow rebuilding, healing, and inspiration to others though the publication of her deceased daughter's writings; and finally of discovery as the author pursues her dream of writing and illustrating a child's picture book. (SR)

Tested the malleability of two personality measures among recently widowed older adults in self-help support groups. Findings support the differentiation between the measures. The trait locus of control remained stable but the group intervention had a direct positive effect, reducing depression for those in the self-help support groups. (RJM)

Discusses components of grief and the dynamics of family reactions to the death of a child. Encourages family counselors to be prepared for working with families by understanding these unique dynamics. Describes the persistence of parental bereavement when a child dies and the effects of the death on a marriage. (RJM)

Describes the death of a friend and colleague so as to stimulate a wider discussion of relationships and loss among narrators of personal loss. Introduces these matters so as to educate future narrators over issues which may arise in their personal and professional lives, particularly the intimate connection between these two realms. (RJM)