Bereavement Flashcards
What is Bereavement?
the loss of one’s spouse that leads to physical illness, or even death.
Which of the sexes tend to live longer or likely experience the loss of a spouse?
women
A ______ friend or relative is typically the caregiver of the dying individual.
female
What groups of people are typically studied in the loss effect?
married, divorced, and single people
What is the loss effect?
Bereavement
Out of the 3 groups (married, divorced and single), which is ideal in studying the loss effect?
none, all needs to be considered
What are some of the evidence used in the findings of the loss effect?
- days of disability (missed work)
- symptom report (pain or illness)
- doctor and hospital visits
- mortality (state of being mortal, or susceptible to death; the opposite of immortality.)
- immune system function
what is the problem in the evidence days of disability?
could be due to emotional problems
what is the problem in the evidence symptom report?
could be reporting or noticing bias
what is the problem in the evidence on doctor or hospital visits?
could be because they stopped taking care of themselves, or were pressured to get check-uped
what is the problem in the evidence of mortality?
could be shared environment, or that marriage prevented illness
what is the problem in the evidence of illness?
is the loss effect just stress? or is there something more?
What were the two studies used to make associations between bereavement and immune function?
1) Bereaved women had lower natural killer cell activity.
2) Widows had lower NK cell activity one month after their husbands death than one month before.
What are the stages of grief?
1) Denial/Disbelief
2) Bargaining/Yearning
3) Anger
4) Depression
5) Acceptance
Compare and contras the hypothesized stage theory of grief and the actual data on stages of grief.
the hypothesized stage theory showed that they follow the order (denial, bargaining, anger, depression, and acceptance), with each peaking and dropping one after the other, but acceptances starts low and gradually increases by the end.
the actually data shows acceptance scored highest right from the beginning and continues to rise above the other factors, but when the scores were rescaled to show intensity, it clearly showed the same hypothesized theory on the stages.
Summarize some of the key components of the stages of grief.
- the peaks in the actual finding, follows the same order as the hypothesized model.
- acceptance and yearning are most common reaction of loss, not disbelief.
- the negative feelings tend to hit their peaks after 6 months.
- It is possible to over-interpret stages of grief model.
What are some of the common myths about dealing with a loss?
- people assume that depression is inevitable
- people who don’t go through depression after a loss has a psychological problem
- working through a loss is necessary.
What does the actual data show for in the myth that people assume that depression is inevitable?
- only 35% of widows are clinically depressed, 14% for mormon widows.
- the % is lowered if the loss was not complicated and the relationship was healthy and untroubled.
- people will generally get over it in about a year
What does the actual data show for in the myth that assumes that people who don’t go through depression after a death has a psychological problem?
- 65% of people who were not distress after a loss did not become more distressed later, and only 3 out of the 71 people became depressed later.
- people who show high distress after a loss are not more likely to show less later .
- people with low distress after a loss are not more likely to have high distress later.
What does the actual data show for in the myth that assumes that working through a loss is necessary?
- people who forcefully trying to work through a loss after 3 weeks, experience worsening physical and mental health 13 months later.
- no evidence show that working through a loss is effective.
What does the actual data show for in the myth that assumes that people will get over it in about a year?
- there is no set time
- those with complicated griefs will take longer
What is the take home message for dealing with a loss?
there is no one way or course people will go through with loss.
What is one of the biggest problems with receiving support during times of loss>
- people often don’t know what to say/say the wrong things
- people feel more anxious when the loss is tragic -> support is not given
What are some of the helpful things people can do to help bereaved people?
- allow people to express themselves.
- find people who have gone through a loss.
- instrumental support (cooking, cleaning, kids)
- keep regular contact
