Bereavement: A Framework for those Working with Children

Melvin, Diane; Lukeman, Diane

doi:10.1177/1359104500005004007

Cited by 17 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…However, research by Christ (2000) has shown that when the surviving parent and their children talk about the parent's death, children are more likely to have better psychological outcomes. Likewise, it has been shown that children's coping is enhanced when they are provided with a clear and honest explanation about what has happened (Melvin & Lukeman, 2000). Through these conversations, children are helped to begin to process both cognitively and emotionally what has happened and thus equipped to start writing their last chapter which has meaning and substance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Writing the ‘penultimate chapter’: how children begin to make sense of parental terminal illness

Fearnley

2015

Mortality

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The paper proposes that during the terminal stage of parental illness, children are involved in 'writing' a 'penultimate chapter'. This is a prospective chapter and the quality of its content is dependent on the extent to which children are included in conversations and information sharing about the illness. The 'writing' of the 'penultimate chapter' is important in helping children make meaning from their current lived experience and helps prepare them in the writing of their final chapter about their parent. This paper develops and extends the ideas proposed by Walter in the 1990s. Walter delineated his ideas about bereaved people maintaining a relationship with the deceased person and through this being involved in 'writing a last chapter' about their lives. Part of the process of maintaining the relationship with the deceased person and finding a stable place for them is achieved through 'the writing of the last chapter'. The last chapter is written after the death and involves conversations with people who knew the deceased. Walter's model is developed here to incorporate the pre-bereavement period.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Writing the ‘penultimate chapter’: how children begin to make sense of parental terminal illness

Fearnley

2015

Mortality

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“…In a familiar and supportive environment with a trusted adult, children are willing to discuss their fears and emotions about death. Using both developmental theories and clinical experience, clinical psychologists have suggested that providing children with additional information about death and the opportunity to make sense of the death of a loved one can act as moderating factors in a child's bereavement process (Melvin & Lukeman, ). Yet, when parents and teachers are asked their opinions about death education in the home and classroom, they often report feelings of discomfort around talking to children about death (McGovern & Barry, ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Children's Earliest Experiences with Death: Circumstances, Conversations, Explanations, and Parental Satisfaction

Renaud

Engarhos

Schleifer

et al. 2014

Infant and Child Development

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Parents (n = 140) of children 2 to 7 years responded to an online survey regarding their children's experiences and conversations about death. A total of 75% of parents indicated that they had spoken to their child about death, and the majority of conversations were first initiated when children were between 3 and 3.5 years of age. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to explore factors that could predict conversations about death. Parents (n = 88) provided narratives of the explanations of death that they gave their child and subsequently reported their level of satisfaction with their explanation. The content of the explanations was coded and examined in relation to children's age and parental satisfaction. Results revealed that parents who provided explanations to a continued existence after death reported significantly higher levels of satisfaction than those parents who discussed the absence of a future physical relationship after death. Finally, explanations of a continued existence were not always in reference to an afterlife and could include discussing the memory of the deceased or their continued impact even after death. Thus, when talking to young children about death, parents may feel greater satisfaction in finding ways to discuss the continued legacy of those who have died compared to more biological explanations.

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“…Over the past two decades, bereavement services have begun to emerge as a significant form of specialised support for children and young people (referred to generically in this paper as 'children'), and there is an increasing UK (as opposed to US) literature about the practical issues involved (Stokes et al, 1999;Melvin & Lukeman, 2000;Worswick, 2000); the types of interventions that services use (Stokes & Crossley, 1996;Potts, Farrell & OToole, 1999;Nugus Challenges in evaluating childhood bereavement services 1 The uncertain nature of childhood bereavement…”

Section: The Complexity Of the Child Bereavement Service Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges in evaluating childhood bereavement services

Dip

2011

Bereavement Care

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This paper discusses the evaluation of childhood bereavement services in the UK policy context and some of the challenges this presents. Two key difficulties are discussed: the lack of any clear, agreed outcomes from bereavement interventions with children, and the challenge of evaluating the complex social processes that bereavement interventions involve. Two recommendations are made to address these in the short term and to generate data for wider research.These are: to strengthen services' existing evaluation strategies, and to develop a routine evaluation package that can be used by all services. This would comprise a basic data set, a user satisfaction questionnaire, and a childhood bereavementfocused clinical outcome routine evaluation measure. In the longer term, further research is recommended, including UK-based longitudinal studies.

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Bereavement: A Framework for those Working with Children

Cited by 17 publications

References 37 publications

Writing the ‘penultimate chapter’: how children begin to make sense of parental terminal illness

Writing the ‘penultimate chapter’: how children begin to make sense of parental terminal illness

Children's Earliest Experiences with Death: Circumstances, Conversations, Explanations, and Parental Satisfaction

Challenges in evaluating childhood bereavement services

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