Death Studies最新文献

This study explores the bereavement and meaning reconstruction experiences of family members who lost loved ones in the Roboski massacre, in which 34 civilians-mostly young-were killed in a cross-border airstrike in Turkey. Using a hermeneutic phenomenological qualitative design, three core themes emerged: (1) Traumatic Circumstances and Risk Factors, including the young age of the deceased, violent nature of death, and socioeconomic hardship compounded by limited institutional support; (2) Disrupted Meaning, stemming from injustice, impunity, and fractured trust in state authorities, and (3) Life After Loss: Bonds, Practices, and Adaptation, marked by emotional pain, disrupted health, symbolic remembrance, and reliance on cultural mourning rituals; and (3). Findings reveal how grief in the aftermath of collective violence is shaped by both individual and sociopolitical dimensions. The study underscores the need for trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and justice-oriented interventions for communities coping with mass loss.

Encounters with patient death, often seen as traumatic for health professionals, may also drive post-traumatic growth and systemic improvement. This study explores how such experiences transform community health professionals (CHPs) in China. Employing a constructivist grounded theory approach, we conducted a year of non-participant observation and 23 semi-structured interviews with CHPs in Shenzhen. Our analysis produced a psychological-professional-systems model of transformation, which is substantiated by three themes: first, these encounters fostered emotional resilience and deeper human connection, enhancing psychological endurance and relational care; second, CHPs redefined their professional identity, expanding their roles to provide holistic support aligned with person-centred public health; third, witnessing death prompted ethical reflection, shaped by systemic tensions between individual adaptation and structural support. While contextually Chinese, these findings offer transferable insights for workforce resilience and trauma-informed care, highlighting strategies such as resilience training, flexible care models, and ethics-based debriefing.

Experiencing the death of a child is devastating to parents and surviving siblings, who must navigate complicated grief processes, both individually and as a family unit, and need robust support systems to cope. The current study involved in-depth interviews with 15 parents and siblings who experienced the death of a child in their immediate family to understand their individual and family grieving processes and identify support mechanisms that were helpful in the grieving process. Findings highlighted the importance of recognizing that each family and family member has different needs and the importance of understanding that families' needs will shift over time. A variety of support mechanisms were helpful to families, especially when support persons were willing to be present and listen without judgment. Parents were an important source of support for children, and access to informal and formal support helped parents better address surviving siblings' as well as their own needs after a child's death.

The current research focuses on the methodological considerations for conducting online qualitative research interviews in the context of loss and bereavement. In recent years, there has been an increased use of virtual mediums for qualitative research, and with this comes methodological challenges for conducting research that maintains moral and ethical values expected from academic research. In particular, within the field of qualitative bereavement research, an emphasis is placed on the communication, interaction, and relationship between the researcher and the participant, with this being central to the qualitative interview and the discussion about the bereavement experience. Therefore, the current paper will address issues concerning the researcher-participant relationship, and the methodological challenges that arose in conducting online interviews in the context of bereaved parents of fallen 'lone soldiers' in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Implications for conducting online qualitative bereavement interviews are discussed.

This randomized controlled trial investigated the effects of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program on stress, subjective anxiety, self-compassion, and prenatal attachment in pregnant women with perinatal loss. A total of 112 women were randomly assigned to MBSR (n = 56) or control (n = 56) groups. The MBSR program was delivered face-to-face in eight sessions over 4 weeks. Pretest comparisons showed no significant differences between groups (p >.05). Posttest results indicated that the MBSR group had significantly lower Tilburg Pregnancy Distress Scale (partner involvement and negative affect) and Subjective Units of Disturbance Scale scores, with large effect sizes (η² = .677, .679, .143, .621). The MBSR group also showed significantly higher Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form scores (η² = .542) and higher Maternal Antenatal Attachment Scale scores, including both time spent on attachment and attachment quality (η² = .620, .760, .557). Findings suggest MBSR effectively reduces stress and anxiety while enhancing self-compassion and prenatal attachment in women with perinatal loss.

Perinatal death remains socially unevenly recognized, despite important changes in practice and culture. This qualitative study examines how bereaved mothers negotiate everyday (non)recognition across interactional settings. Using a grounded theorizing approach, we conducted in-depth interviews with 23 mothers in Québec and analyzed how expectations of recognition shape social action. We identify a threefold, explanatory typology of social labor: anticipatory (guarding against likely non-recognition), reactive (countering or eliciting recognition amid present non-recognition), and proactive (activating existing recognition or disclosing the loss absent mismatch). Non-labor occurred when perceived effort outweighed emotional capacity or the likelihood of a positive outcome (e.g., formal/administrative non-recognition, certain workplace and medical contexts). Rather than portraying parents as passive, our analysis complements existing literature by specifying the interactional mechanisms through which recognition is negotiated in daily life, while not presuming these efforts' efficacy or generalizability beyond the Québec context.

The aim of this study was to examine the case of altruistic kidney donation (AKD) following loss, in light of PTG theory. Loss may facilitate trauma alongside post-traumatic growth (PTG). Although much is known about the motivation for AKD in general, less is known about the motives of bereaved individuals who chose to altruistically donate their kidney post-loss. Employing a narrative approach, 10 bereaved individuals who altruistically donated a kidney were interviewed about their perceptions of the connection between the loss and their decision to donate a kidney post-loss. Content analysis revealed three types of bereaved AKD's perceived connection between the loss and the donation: explicitly direct, indirect, and implicit. Donation post-loss was characterized by aspects of PTG in three domains: self, other and worldviews. The findings are discussed in light of PTG theory and highlight the possible role of AKD in processes of coping and growth following grief.

Insecure attachment styles have been linked to an increased risk for suicidality, functioning as a distal risk factor for suicide behaviors in adulthood. Studies on the subject are numerous, but heterogeneous in methodology. This study aimed to sensibly group study findings and quantify the magnitude of this relationship. We performed a systematic literature search to select studies investigating insecure adult attachment styles and suicidal ideation and attempt, and present quantitative data that could be pooled into a meta-analysis. Six random-effect meta-analyses were performed, comprising 47 studies with 50,214 individuals. A small effect size association was found for the relationship between suicidal ideation and insecure attachment styles (anxious, avoidant, and fearful); similar findings were found for the relationship between suicide attempt and insecure attachment (Pearson's r ranged from 0.16 to 0.26, all ps <0.05). The type of attachment measure moderated the association of suicidal ideation with anxious and avoidant attachment.

This review has been preregistered at The International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) - Registration number CRD42023401459.

Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) is a method of data collection that entails prompting individuals to report their experiences (e.g., thoughts, feelings, and behaviors) in real time over the course of their day-to-day lives. By providing rich information about how these experiences unfold over time within an individual, EMA has the potential to substantially advance our understanding of grief. However, there is uncertainty about how bereaved adults will respond to EMA, especially among those with high prolonged grief symptom severity. Accordingly, we evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of an EMA protocol in bereaved adults with low and high prolonged grief severity. Participants completed six 12-item EMA surveys per day on their smartphones for 17 days. Adherence was high (mean survey completion = 90%, median = 96%), and only 6% of participants withdrew. Adherence remained high in those with high prolonged grief symptom severity (mean = 86%; median = 96%). On average, participants reported agreement that survey frequency and length were acceptable. There was no evidence for systematic worsening of symptoms during EMA data collection. Together, these findings suggest that EMA is feasible, acceptable, and safe for bereaved adults, including those with high prolonged grief symptom severity.

The COVID-19 pandemic raised fears about a rise in prolonged grief rates. To determine if these fears are justified, we examined an online sample of 329 Turkish adults for their level of prolonged grief symptoms (as well as probable Prolonged Grief Disorder-PGD) and associated factors in relation to losses during the pandemic. Respondents completed measures of prolonged grief, post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression. Overall, 10% of participants reported symptoms indicating a probable PGD diagnosis. Surprisingly, loss due to COVID-19 or disruption of the natural mourning process did not relate to higher levels of prolonged grief. Our findings suggest that although levels of prolonged grief (and rates of PGD) may have increased during the pandemic, prolonged grief (or PGD) during this time is likely not linked to losses due to COVID-19 or to disruptions in the normal grieving process.