Parents' evaluation of a preventive intervention following the sudden, violent deaths of their children

Death Stud. 1996 Sep-Oct;20(5):453-68. doi: 10.1080/07481189608252754.

Abstract

A preventive intervention for 156 bereaved parents whose 12- to 28-year-old children died by accident, homicide, or suicide was tested using a multisite longitudinal cohort pretest/posttest experimental design. Reported here are bereaved parents' evaluations of the two-dimensional support program. Problem-focused support was rated by parents' perceptions of readiness, relevance, timing, and understanding of the information and skills presented. Emotion-focused support was rated by the identification of I. Yalom's (1985) therapeutic group factors and group leader/clinician support. Over 70% of all the person/session responses showed that both support dimensions were rated at 6 or 7 on a 7-point scale (e.g., 0 = not at all relevant, 7 = very relevant.) Additional exploratory analyses examined the extent to which 5 participant and treatment characteristics influenced parents' evaluations. Clinical implications and future research directions are suggested.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Bereavement*
  • Child
  • Cohort Studies
  • Death*
  • Humans
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Middle Aged
  • Parent-Child Relations
  • Preventive Psychiatry*
  • Program Evaluation
  • Psychotherapy, Group
  • Stress, Psychological / prevention & control*
  • Violence*