The psycho-social follow-up after the terror of July 22 nd 2011 as experienced by the bereaved.

This article presents results from one of the first longitudinal studies exploring the effects of losing a close friend to traumatic death, focusing on complicated grief over time and how this is affected by avoidant behavior and rumination about the loss. The sample consists of 88 persons (76% women and 24% men, mean age = 21) who lost a close friend in the Utøya killings in Norway on July 22, 2011.Quantitative data were collected at three time-points; 18, 28, and 40 months postloss. Main findings are that bereaved friends are heavily impacted by the loss and their grief reactions are affected negatively by avoidant behavior and rumination. This indicates that close bereaved friends are a group to be aware of and that there is a need for better strategies for identifying individuals in need for follow-up.

This article presents qualitative interview data from the research project "Grief Support Groups in Norway" (2009-2011). The aim of this part of the study was to investigate grief group participant's experiences, benefits, and satisfaction with the grief group. Positive aspects were to meet with peers, share thoughts and feelings, normalization, exchange advice and information, and share hope. On the negative side were unfulfilled needs or expectations, additional personal stress, and unsatisfactory structure, organization, and leadership. Importantly, lack of screening caused bereaved with complicated grief to participate in groups that were non-therapeutic, leaving them with insufficient help. Also, group leaders were not always considered knowledgeable of group processes and impacts of different organizational and structural factors on groups. Conclusively, participants' needs and expectations should be considered when planning and organizing groups, in order to conduct helpful groups and increase the experience of a positive outcome.

Data analyzed in this article is part of a study conducted to explore grief support groups in Norway. Participants that fulfilled the criteria of Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) were compared with participants that did not in order to explore whether they differed on satisfaction and experiences with participation. To allow for comparison, a subsample of 22 participants that fulfilled the criteria of PGD were drawn from the total of 262 participants. Demographic and loss-related variables were analyzed to explore factors associated with PGD. Fulfillment of PGD was then analyzed to explore the group's effect on life quality and overall satisfaction. The main finding is that participants who fulfill the criteria of prolonged grief are in general less satisfied with the groups and report less positive effect on life quality. We also found age- and gender-differences regarding fulfillment of PGD, with older bereaved women especially at risk of developing symptoms of PGD.

Scandinavian Psychologist, 2(2015)e5http://dx.doi.org/10. 15714/scandpsychol.2.e5 This is an open access journal available at http://psykologisk.no/sp/ Articles can be deposited in the institutional repository provided its original source is cited clearly.

Based on the results from the qualitative part of the study "Grief Groups in Norway" conducted in 2009-2011, this article focuses on grief group participants' recommendations for good or ideal grief groups. Participants have insightful observations about grief groups and how they can be improved, and taking their point of view seriously is one important way of ensuring that users of such group get an optimal experience from joining such groups. Using their experiences to adjust the structure and function of the groups, one can allow for practical solutions for organizations that have difficulties starting up grief support groups, for example, in areas where the population density is low. A major finding in this study was that grief group participants stressed the importance of thorough information before and at the start of grief groups. This concerned information about the aim, structure, organization, and possible effects and limitations of group participation.

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BackgroundPrevious meta-analyses examined the effectiveness of interventions for bereaved children showing small to moderate effect sizes. However, no mixed methods systematic review was conducted on bereavement interventions following the loss of a parent focusing on the time since death in regard to the prevention of grief complications.ObjectiveThe overall purpose of the review is to provide a rigorous synthesis of early intervention after parental death in childhood. Specifically, the aims are twofold: (1) to determine the rationales, contents, timeframes, and outcomes of early bereavement care interventions for children and/or their parents and (2) to assess the quality of current early intervention studies.MethodsQuantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods intervention studies that start intervention with parentally bereaved children (and/or their parents) up to 6 months postloss will be included in the review. The search strategy was based on the Population, Interventions, Comparator, Outcomes, and Study Designs (PICOS) approach, and it was devised together with a university librarian. The literature searches will be carried out in the Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), PsycINFO, Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE), and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL). The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool will be used to appraise the quality of eligible studies. All data will be narratively synthetized following the Guidance on the Conduct of Narrative Synthesis in Systematic Reviews.ResultsThe systematic review is ongoing and the data search has started. The review is expected to be completed by the end of 2017. Findings will be submitted to leading journals for publication.ConclusionsIn accordance with the current diagnostic criteria for prolonged grief as well as the users’ perspectives literature, this systematic review outlines a possible sensitive period for early intervention following the death of a parent. The hereby presented protocol ensures the groundwork and transparency for the process of conducting the systematic review.Trial RegistrationInternational Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) CRD42017064077; http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/display_record.asp?ID=CRD42017064077 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6rMq6F0fv)