Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Grief or loss group program'

There were four major purposes of this study: (1) to evaluate the level of grief experience by bereaved individuals who attend either a grief support group or grief psycho-educational group in the Inland Empire, (2) to evaluate the level of spirtuality experienced by bereaved individuals who attend either a grief support or grief psycho-educational group in the Inland Empire, (3) to correlate the level of grief reactions with the level of spiritual experience within bereaved individuals, and (4) to describe demongraphic and grief/spiritual-related factors that may influence a bereaved individual's spiritual experience and grief process.

This study explores the experiences of people who have lost loved ones due to socially stigmatized deaths. Drawing from eight individual interviews, the author argues that the stigma associated with death due to drug overdose, suicide, substance abuse, or murder can cause traumatic or prolonged grief and can complicate the way the bereaved talk about grief as a part of their healing process. With the mortality rate in the U.S. rising, there is an epidemic of disenfranchised grief affecting millions of bereaved individuals. Using Coordinated Management of Meaning and Communication Privacy Management theories, the author uncovers strategies the traumatically bereaved employ to manage interactions and relationships with others. A qualitative analysis of participant interviews revealed that social stigma, whether experienced or anticipated, affects the way the bereaved communicate and can cause self-silencing. Findings indicate a need for safe, supportive, and non-judgmental spaces for the traumatically bereaved to share their stories.

Die doel van hierdie navorsingstudie is om riglyne vir 'n groepsterapeutiese program te ontwikkel waarin adolessente in rou (in besonder na die afsterwe van 'n betekenisvolle ander) die geleentheid kry om hul emosies rondom sterwe en rou te verwerk. In 'n omvattende literatuurstudie is bestaande teorieë aangaande die ontwikkelingsfase adolessensie, rou-, verdriet- en verliesreaksies asook terapeutiese groepe en groepsprogramme, bespreek. Die navorsingsprosedures is vervolgens bespreek gedurende die eerste en laaste sessies is vir die doel van evaluering 'n persoonlike vraelys, die Beck Depressie-vraelys en spesifieke T.A.T.-kaarte aan die groeplede voorgelê. Die groepsprosedures is op oudioband opgeneem vir analise en interpretasie van prosesnotas. Die verwerking van die data wat ingesamel is, is kwalitatief ontleed. Elf Afrikaanssprekende adolessente is op 'n hoërskoolkamp genader om vrywillig aan die program deel te neem. Vyf het aan die program deelgeneem. Die studie het die volgende resultate opgelewer:

• Groepsterapie en die -programme beinvloed die emosionele verliese van adolessente in rou.
• Groepsterapie en die -programme dra by tot die konstruktiewe vermindering van gevoelens van rou, verlies en gepaardgaande depressie by adolessente.
• Groepsterapie dra by tot 'n adolessent se hernude ingesteldheid op hoop en die toekoms.

Op grond van hierdie bevindings word riglyne vir 'n groepsterapeutiese program vir adolessente in rou voorgestel. ENGLISH : The purpose of this research study is to develop guidelines for a group therapy programme for adolescents in mourning (especially after the death of a significant other). The programme offers an opportunity to come to terms with emotions relating to death and bereavement. In a comprehensive literature study of existing theories regarding the development phase of adolescence, mourning-, grief- and loss reactions as well as therapeutic groups and group programmes are discussed. The research procedures are subsequently discussed. For evaluations purposes a personal questionnaire, the Beck Depression questionnaire as well as specific T.A.T. cards were submitted to the group members at their first and final sessions. Audio tapes were used during the group procedures. The processing of the collected data was analysed qualitatively. Eleven Afrikaans speaking adolescents were approached at a high school camp to participate in the programme on a voluntary basis. Five of them participated. The following results were obtained from the study:

• Group therapy and the -programme influence the emotional losses of adolescents in the process of mourning.
• Group therapy and the -programme alleviate feelings of grief, loss and depression in adolescents.
• Group therapy contributes to an adolescents' renewed feelings of hope and the future.

On the basis of these findings guidelines for a group therapy programme for adolescents in mourning are suggested.
Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 1997.
Psychology
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Thesis (M.A.)--Mount Saint Vincent University, 2003.
"The Grief Recovery© Program is an educational and counseling program designed by the Grief Recovery Institute"--Abstract; accessible on the Internet: http://www.grief-recovery.com. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 71-72).

Many adolescent girls experience the death of a peer, which is often sudden and at times violent. These deaths are typically viewed as preventable, which can complicate the grief reactions of adolescent girls. The impact of peer death on adolescent girls involves a number of physical, emotional, social, and cognitive grief responses. Negative outcomes include school problems, depression, substance abuse, and suicidal ideation. This study examines the efficacy of the Adolescent Grief and Loss (AGL) group, a six-week group designed to address the needs of adolescent girls who have experienced the death of a peer within the past two years. The goal of the AGL group was to reduce or lessen physical, emotional, social, and cognitive responses to grief, and to foster mutual support and connection to others via various tasks associated with each group session. The AGL group was conducted in four different public high schools in Central Texas, with a sample size of 20 girls. A mixed methods design was utilized for this study, integrating both quantitative and qualitative research designs. The quantitative component employed a non-experimental simple time-series design, using two pre-test and three post-test time points. The qualitative component was based on a phenomenological analysis of adolescent grief and loss response, which included open-ended questions developed to capture each adolescent girl’s individual experience of peer death. Questions were also asked to elicit the girls’ experience of participating in the AGL group. The quantitative results of the study indicate that adolescent girls benefited from participation in the AGL group as evidenced by significantly reduced scores on the Loss Response List for all domains of physical, emotional, social, and cognitive grief responses. The qualitative findings yielded five overarching themes of experience of peer death: the story, physical reactions, emotional reactions, social reactions, and cognitive reactions. Integration of the quantitative and qualitative findings of this research study strongly support the benefits of providing a grief and loss group to adolescent girls who have been impacted by the experience of peer death.
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This doctoral dissertation's topic is mourning in people with intellectual disabilities who have lost a loved one. The research focuses mainly on the loss of parents, but also includes the loss of other people, such as grandparents. By loss we mean death, but the results of the work can also be used for losses of a different nature. The aim of this work is to understand grief in people with intellectual disabilities and to suggest appropriate ways to support their grieving process, with emphasis on grief support groups. As part of the research, we set up and implemented 2 support groups for grieving people with intellectual disabilities, each lasting at least 2 months and meeting once a week. At the very beginning of our research, we carried out one support group of the same length as a pilot study. The pilot study was first evaluated and the proposal of the support group according to the original foreign script was modified to better meet the needs of Czech citizens with intellectual disabilities. After the pilot study, we enriched the research with a questionnaire test of our own design, capturing a possible change in process of mourning in people involved in our support groups. We presented the questionnaire test to the participants before the start of the support groups and immediately after...

This study examines the impact of rapid and multi-faceted change (both domestically and inter-nationally over the past four decades) on the Dutch Reformed Church. 2 February 1990 is taken as a water shed date in the history of South-Africa: a speech in parliament of former president FW de Klerk put South-Africa on a course of fundamental change in all spheres of society. The research problem deals with loss the Afrikaans community experiences as a result of societal change. The result of change and loss is long-lasting, collective grief. Grief is defined as the nor-mal, spontaneous reaction to change and loss. Unresolved grief and nostalgia saps a lot of energy and tends to turn a congregation’s attention to itself, thereby contradicting the sound reformed ecclesiology. There is no appropriate practical theological theory to help congregations address unresolved grief. Change, loss and grief are made focus points for theological reflection and empirical study. The guiding hypothesis states that efforts to build up the local church are more likely to succeed, once the “black holes” of unaddressed grief have been dealt with by a collective and on-going process of mourning. Mourning is defined as an intentional and courageous process of letting go of different losses. It is hard work, but the result of deliberate mourning is growth – and eventually a more appropriate, new identity. Unresolved grief causes congregations to get stuck in survival mode, in stead of reaching out to the nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Mourning is an antidote (Hamman 2005:35). The research model of G Heitink (1993) is employed to generate fresh practical theological thinking on the research problem: that congregations fail to live according to their missional identity. The hermeneutical cycle explores the “new” practical theology in the framework of a post-Einstein epistemology, as well as the theory of building up the local church in the framework of an ecosystemic meta-theory. The hermeneutical cycle is concluded with the study of contemporary theories of loss, grief and mourning. The empirical cycle reports the results of a qualitative empirical study in three local congregations of the Northern Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church. A rich description is given of 31 respondents’ experience of loss and grief in the new South-Africa. It is established that unresolved grief indeed impacts negatively on efforts to build up the local church. The strategic cycle searches for practical theological wisdom and for a theory that can guide congregations to more productive responses to change and loss. The research boils down to twelve strategic suggestions for local congregations on how to make collective mourning a normal and on-going part of their ministry. The study concludes with the hypothesis that practical theology can serve the church by developing a theory that integrates intentional mourning and grief work as a necessary and normal aspect of ministry.
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2011.
Practical Theology
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The research deals with the losses the 7-11 year old child in die single parent family may experience. The research has been conducted from a practical theological (pastoral) perspective. The goal of the study was to investigate and elaborate upon the various losses the child may experience on a physical, cognitive, social, spiritual and an emotional level. In order to complement and verify the literature study, empirical methods of research were utilised. Focus groups were conducted within the framework of Gestalt Play Therapy. Parent interviews were used as an additional method of research. It became apparent, as a result of the literature and empirical studies, that the loss of a parent (whether by divorce/ abandonment/unmarried status/ death) affects the child on all levels of his/her development. Guidelines for the support of such a child are suggested.
Die navorsing handel oor die verlies(e) wat die 7-11 jarige kind in die enkelouergesin mag beleef. Die navorsing geskied vanuit 'n prakties-teologiese (pastorale) perspektief. Die doel van die studie was om die verliese wat die kind op fisiese, kognitiewe, emosionele, sosiale en geestelike vlak mag ervaar, te ondersoek en omskryf. Om die literatuurstudie aan te vul en te verifieer, al dan nie, is daar van empiriese navorsing gebruik gemaak. Fokusgroepe het plaasgevind binne 'n gestalt spelterapeutiese raamwerk. Oueronderhoude was as nog 'n wyse van ondersoek gebruik. Vanuit die literatuurstudie en empiriese navorsing het dit duidelik geword dat die verlies aan 'n ouer (vanwee egskeiding/ verlating/ongetroude status/ sterfte) die kind op al die vlakke van sy/haar ontwikkeling beinvloed. Riglyne tot ondersteuning aan hierdie kind is voorgestel.
Social work
M.Diac. (Youth Work)

This single case study was undertaken to determine how the Gestalt approach can be used to guide the child to adjust in a children's home. The study dealt with two models of children's homes, namely the traditional setting and the family centered home setting, as well as adjustment and attachment of a single child's experience in the middle school years, in the family centered home setting. In addition, the trauma, loss and culture shock are highlighted to demonstrate the difficulty children experience in adjusting to a new environment such as a children's home. Data were captured around the participant's experience and process, entering the children's home and the facilitating through intervention. Through the intervention the participant's process was identified, helping him to cope with his new situation. Through Gestalt play therapy the participant's active involvement in his adjustment process was clear and his adjustment was increased.
Social work
MDIAC (PLAY THERAPY)