African American Homicide Bereavement: Aspects of Social Support That Predict Complicated Grief, PTSD, and Depression

Burke, Laurie A.; Neimeyer, Robert A.; McDevitt-Murphy, Meghan E.

doi:10.2190/om.61.1.a

Cited by 138 publications

(176 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…For example, Richardson and Balaswamy [51] found that widowers who regularly attended church services had less positive and more negative affect than those who attended irregularly. One plausible explanation is suggested by mourners who report a sense of abandonment by others while they are grieving, or in some cases enduring negative interactions that complicate an already difficult bereavement [52].…”

Section: Spiritual Copingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spiritual Distress in Bereavement: Evolution of a Research Program

Burke

Neimeyer

2014

Religions

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Many mourners turn to their spiritual beliefs and traditions when confronted by the death of a loved one. However, prior studies have either focused primarily on the benefits of faith following loss or studied spiritual struggle outside the context of bereavement. Moreover, scales to measure bereavement-related crises of faith and interventions specifically designed for spiritually inclined, distressed grievers are virtually non-existent. Our program of research, which to date has consisted of working with Christian grievers and is outlined below, elucidates complicated spiritual grief (CSG)-a spiritual crisis following the loss of a loved one. For example, our longitudinal examination of 46 African American homicide survivors established the relation between positive religious coping, CSG, and complicated grief (CG), to clarify whether religious coping more strongly predicted bereavement distress or vice versa, with a follow-up study that determined the relation between religious coping and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. We replicated and expanded these findings with a diverse sample of 150 grievers to explore the complex relation between CSG, CG, and meaning making in a comparison study of mourners who had experienced traumatic-versus natural death losses. In a companion study, we qualitatively analyzed 84 grievers' narratives and interviewed a 5-member focus group to capture and learn from their firsthand experiences of spiritual distress. To close the gap in terms of CSG assessment, we also developed and validated the Inventory of Complicated Spiritual Grief (ICSG). Currently, our ongoing CSG investigation extends in several directions: first, to a sample of family members OPEN ACCESSReligions 2014, 5 1088 anticipating the loss of their hospice-eligible loved one in palliative care; and, second, to the development and testing of a writing-intensive intervention for newly bereaved, spiritually inclined grievers.

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Section: Spiritual Copingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spiritual Distress in Bereavement: Evolution of a Research Program

Burke

Neimeyer

2014

Religions

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“…Richardson and Balaswamy [43] found for example that widowers who regularly attended church services had less positive and more negative affect than those who attended less regularly. One plausible explanation might be suggested by reports from mourners who express feeling a sense of abandonment or isolation from others while they are grieving, or in some cases enduring negative interactions that unnecessarily complicate an already difficult grieving experience [44].…”

Section: Spiritual Copingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Complicated Grief in the Aftermath of Homicide: Spiritual Crisis and Distress in an African American Sample

Neimeyer

Burke

2011

Religions

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Both grieving the loss of a loved one and using spirituality or religion as an aid in doing so are common behaviors in the wake of death. This longitudinal examination of 46 African American homicide survivors follows up on our earlier study that established the relation between positive and negative religious coping on the one hand and complicated grief (CG) on the other. In the current report, we broadened this focus to determine the relation between religious coping and other bereavement outcomes, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, to establish whether religious coping more strongly predicted bereavement distress or vice versa. We also sought to determine if the predictive power of CG in terms of religious coping over time exceeded that of PTSD and depression. Our results suggested a link between negative religious coping (NRC) and all forms of bereavement distress, whereas no such link was found between positive religious coping (PRC) and bereavement outcomes in our final analyses. Significantly, only CG prospectively predicted high levels of spiritual struggle six months later. Clinical implications regarding spiritually sensitive interventions are noted.

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“…Also from the perspective of attachment theory, SS focused on the availability of support (or available SS) despite special circumstances (Bowlby, 1982). Larger studies collect what has been defined as negative SS, or number of people who could (or who in fact do) make the bereaved angry or upset, from the size of the social network, represented in the number of people who have provided support in the past month (Burke, Neimeyer & McDevitt-Murphy, 2010;Groot & Kollen, 2013). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Somhlaba & Wait, 2008;Stroebe et al, 2005), cause of death (Burke et al, 2010;. Kristensen, Weisaeth & Heir, 2010;Weder, García-Nieto & Canneti-Nisim, 2010) and symptoms present (Somhlaba & Wait, 2008;Vanderwerker & Prigerson, 2003), which have generated a wide variability in results and conclusions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The first includes studies that support the contribution of SS in decreasing the symptoms of grief: reduction of depression (Burke et al, 2010), anxiety (Somhlaba & Wait, 2008) and/or post-traumatic stress (Murphy et al, 2003;Vanderwerker & Prigerson, 2003). For example, people bereaved because of homicide (Burke et al, 2010), and bereaved mothers (Riley et al, 2007) both showed fewer symptoms associated with grief.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social support and psychological well-being as possible predictors of complicated grief in a cross-section of people in mourning. [Apoyo social y bienestar psicológico como posibles predictores de estado de duelo complicado en poblac de personas en duelo]

Villacieros

Serrano²,

Bermejo³

et al. 2014

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Título: Apoyo social y bienestar psicológico como posibles predictores de estado de duelo complicado en población de personas en duelo. Resumen: Objetivo: Analizar las variaciones en estado de duelo complicado (DC) a través de variables sociodemográficas y de funcionamiento óp-timo: bienestar psicológico (BP), apoyo social disponible (ASD) y satisfacción con el apoyo social disponible (SASD Las variables predictivas del nivel de DC fueron: BP, ASD, SASD, meses desde la pérdida, recibir ayuda farmacológica previa y parentesco progenitor. El R-cuadrado ajustado resultó de 42.4%. Conclusiones: Podemos considerar BP y el SASD predictores del estado de DC. Sería adecuado esclarecer el efecto de sintomatología depresiva en la percepción de ASD. Este estudio contribuye a aumentar eficiencia del recurso, al poder predecir en parte el DC mediante variables que no implican deterioro del deudo. Palabras clave: duelo Complicado; deudo; apoyo social; satisfacción; bienestar psicológico. Abstract:Objective: To analyze variations in complicated grief (CG) across sociodemographic variables and variables of optimal functioning: psychological well-being (PWB), available social support (ASS) and satisfaction with available social support (SASS). Method: A cross-sectional study was done with N = 110 people going to a free bereavement listening center (LC). They were given a questionnaire that included sociodemographic aspects. The Inventory of Complicated Grief by Prigerson (ICG), a Spanish language adaptation of Ryff's Psychological Well-Being Questionnaire and the abbreviated version of Sarason's Social Support Questionnaire (SSQSR) were used. A descriptive and correlational (Pearson) analysis was carried out. Multiple linear regression was done by using a method of a step-by-step backwards elimination. Results: The average CG 40.91 (SD = 11.89), PWB 119.23 (SD = 18.75), ASS 10.56 (SD = 6.31) people and SASS 13.48 (SD = 4.17). The predictive variables of CG level were: PWB, ASS, SASS, months since loss, receiving pharmacological assistance and parental relationship. The adjusted R-squared was 42.4%. Conclusions: We can consider PWB and SASS predictors of CG. It would be appropriate to clarify the effect of depressive symptoms on the perception of ASS. This study contributes to increasing efficiency of resources, to be able to partially predict CG through variables that do not involve the worsening of a mourning relative's state.

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African American Homicide Bereavement: Aspects of Social Support That Predict Complicated Grief, PTSD, and Depression

Cited by 138 publications

References 48 publications

Spiritual Distress in Bereavement: Evolution of a Research Program

Spiritual Distress in Bereavement: Evolution of a Research Program

Complicated Grief in the Aftermath of Homicide: Spiritual Crisis and Distress in an African American Sample

Social support and psychological well-being as possible predictors of complicated grief in a cross-section of people in mourning. [Apoyo social y bienestar psicológico como posibles predictores de estado de duelo complicado en poblac de personas en duelo]

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