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Personal growth after a suicide loss: cross-sectional findings suggest growth after loss may be associated with better mental health among survivors.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
With a diverse sample of 462 parent survivors of their child's suicide we explored the association of the personal growth subscale of the Hogan Grief Reaction Checklist (HGRC) with mental health problems among longer-term survivors. In this article we offer additional validation for this scale's association with longer-term survivorship and reduced grief difficulties. We also demonstrate its negative relationship with mental health problems. In addition, we explore the demographic correlates of personal growth, which are likely to enable some survivors to experience personal growth sooner than others. Overall, the find...
Source: Omega - October 3, 2009 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Feigelman W, Jordan JR, Gorman BS Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Prolonged grief disorder and depression in widows due to the Rwandan genocide.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Should pathological grief be viewed as a nosological category, separate from other forms of mental diseases? Diagnostic criteria for "Prolonged Grief Disorder" (PGD) have recently been specified by Prigerson and her coworkers. We interviewed a total of 40 widows who had lost their husbands during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. We assessed Major Depression using the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.) and prolonged grief reactions with the PG-13. In order to examine the distinctiveness of the two syndromes we performed a multitrait correlational matrix analysis using modified versions of Generalized ...
Source: Omega - October 3, 2009 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Schaal S, Elbert T, Neuner F Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

How do the young suicide survivors wish to be met by psychologists? A user study.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Little user-knowledge has been documented on the experiences of young suicide bereaved with psychosocial assistance and therapy. Thirty-two adolescents who had lost a close family member or friend by suicide participated in a research project by filling in questionnaires and participating in focus group interviews. The article explores the young people's experiences with and wishes for help from psychologists, and shows that the young bereaved do not receive the psychological assistance they wish for and need. The shortcomings are discussed in relation to the organization, form, and contents of the help. In order to re...
Source: Omega - October 3, 2009 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Dyregrov K Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Spiritual beliefs among Israeli nurses and social workers: a comparison based on their involvement with the dying.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The purpose of the study was to compare spiritual beliefs and practices between nurses and health care social workers based on their involvement with dying patients. Exposure to the dying was identified by two indicators: the percentage of terminally ill patients in the provider's care and the work environment. On the basis of the literature, differences were expected between the two types of professionals and the three degrees of involvement with the dying. Nurses were expected to have a higher spiritual perspective than social workers; and health care providers with high involvement in care for the dying were expecte...
Source: Omega - October 3, 2009 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Pelleg G, Leichtentritt RD Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Embodied grief: bereaved parents' narratives of their suffering body.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Experiences and symptoms emanating from the bereaved person's body are commonly considered to be psychosomatic reactions to loss. The lingering of such experiences is thought to reflect a maladaptive coping style that needs to be addressed to access the psychological pain underlying the symptoms. In this interpretive, phenomenological study of 15 family members in seven families who lost a child to sudden, unexpected death, stories of embodied grief are explored to further understand the grieving body. The findings of this study illuminate the many ways parents experience their grieving body and they underscore the imp...
Source: Omega - October 3, 2009 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Gudmundsdottir M Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Post-death encounters: grieving, mourning, and healing.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
We examined such encounters in the context of the grieving, mourning, and healing processes. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 23 individuals who reported a post-death encounter following the death of a loved one. Phenomenological analysis showed that participants went through an interpretive process in which they attempted to make sense of their experiences. The encounters profoundly affected the participants' beliefs in an afterlife and attitudes toward life and death, and had a significant impact on their grief. Finally, post-death encounters had a healing effect on the participants by contributin...
Source: Omega - August 27, 2009 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Nowatzki NR, Kalischuk RG Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

The growth of death awareness through death education among university students in Hong Kong.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study attempts to explore the attitude toward death, which ranges from fear of death to its acceptance, held by students of one of the universities in Hong Kong. It also tries to examine the relationship between their attitude toward death and their ratings of life and death. Another aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of a death education course offered in that university. It is found that the present death attitude of Hong Kong university students is not satisfactory and that it has been significantly improved after students took a death education course. PMID: 19697715 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Omega)
Source: Omega - August 27, 2009 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Wong WY Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Muscogee Creek spirituality and meaning of death.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This qualitative, collective case study involves interviews with 27 members of the Muscogee Creek Tribe to explore spirituality as related to death and bereavement. Results yielded that Creeks are generally open to the existence of inexplicable supernatural events. Creek spirituality encompasses awareness of spiritual beings, both good and bad. Participants believed that spirits exist alongside people and can send and receive messages from people to guide and inform them. Creeks have ongoing, though not constant, relationships with loved ones and others who have died. Spiritual attunement can occur at every point in th...
Source: Omega - August 27, 2009 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Walker AC, Thompson T Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

The important role of the school following suicide in Norway. What support do young people wish that school could provide?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Little knowledge has been documented on the experiences of young suicide survivors, how they are coping with schooling and what kind of support they think they need. Thirty-two adolescents who had lost a close family member or friend by suicide participated in a research project by filling in questionnaires and participating in focus group interviews. The article explores the young people's experiences with and wishes for help from the school, including teachers and school nurses. The results show that the young people struggle with concentration and learning new material. Although many are satisfied with care and supp...
Source: Omega - August 27, 2009 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Dyregrov K Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Voodoo death.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Scholarly writing on voodoo death is reviewed. Criticisms that voodoo deaths in indigenous societies have never been well documented are refuted with cases medically documented in developed nations. The work of Cannon and Richter on sudden death in animals is reviewed and dismissed as irrelevant for understanding voodoo death. The role of starvation and dehydration is discussed, and it is suggested that the given-up/giving-up hypothesis best fits the phenomenon of voodoo death. Hypotheses for future research are suggested. PMID: 19634503 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Omega)
Source: Omega - July 30, 2009 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Lester D Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Back home: a qualitative study exploring re-entering cross-cultural missionary aid workers' loss and grief.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Over 200 Australian, American, and British Non-Government Organizations send aid workers overseas including missionaries. On re-entry, they may suffer psychological distress; however, there is little research about their psychosocial issues and management in the family practice setting. Research suggests loss and grief as a suitable paradigm for family practitioners dealing with psychosocial issues. The aim of this study was to explore loss and grief issues for adult Australian missionary cross-cultural aid workers during their re-entry adjustment. Mixed methods were used and this study reports the qualitative method: ...
Source: Omega - July 30, 2009 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Selby S, Moulding N, Clark S, Jones A, Braunack-Mayer A, Beilby J Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

The arabic scale of death anxiety: some results from east and west.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The twofold objectives of the present study were (a) to examine sex-related differences on the Arabic Scale of Death Anxiety (ASDA) in seven Arabic and Western countries, and (b) to compare the mean ASDA scores among Arabic samples (Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, and Syria) with Western samples (Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States). A total sample of 2978 volunteer undergraduates participated in this study. They resided in their countries of origin and responded to the scale in their respective native-speaking languages. Sex-related differences on the ASDA were statistically significant in all countries (except t...
Source: Omega - July 30, 2009 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Abdel-Khalek AM, Lester D, Maltby J, Tomás-Sábado J Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Siblings and child friends in death-related literature for children.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article explores ways in which siblings and child friends are represented as being involved in death and loss experiences. These representations are taken from 51 selected examples of death-related literature designed to be read by or with children. The main goal is to ask how these youngsters respond when confronted by the death of a sibling or child friend. How do they act when they are on their own, with each other, or with adults? This is important because these representations of children coping with death-related situations can serve as partial role models for the youngsters who read these books, either on their...
Source: Omega - July 30, 2009 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Corr CA Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

When clients sense the presence of loved ones who have died.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The continued bonds between bereaved individuals and the deceased are central to the process of mourning. One challenging form of continuing bond is that in which the mourner senses the actual presence of the deceased--i.e., seeing one's deceased husband at the kitchen counter. Some see this experience as a sign of pathology while others see it as a normal, healthy aspect of grief and mourning. Twenty-one social workers shared their experiences in addressing this issue with clients. Despite conceptualizing this experience in a variety of ways, they all grounded their interactions with clients around this issue on the f...
Source: Omega - July 30, 2009 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Sanger M Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Humor, laughter, and happiness in the daily lives of recently bereaved spouses.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study of 292 recently widowed (5-24 weeks) men (39%) and women (61%) age 50 and over examined both the perceived importance of and actual experience of having positive emotions in their daily lives and how they might impact bereavement adjustments. We found that most of the bereaved spouses rated humor and happiness as being very important in their daily lives and that they were also experiencing these emotions at higher levels than expected. Experiencing humor, laughter, and happiness was strongly associated with favorable bereavement adjustments (lower grief and depression) regardless of the extent to which the bere...
Source: Omega - February 22, 2009 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Lund DA, Utz R, Caserta MS, De Vries B Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Six-year longitudinal predictors of posttraumatic growth in parentally bereaved adolescents and young adults.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Using the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, we examined posttraumatic growth in a sample of 50 adolescents and young adults who had experienced parental death in childhood or adolescence. Longitudinal relations were examined between baseline measures of contextual and intraindividual factors and scores on the posttraumatic growth subscales (i.e., New Possibilities, Relating to Others, Personal Strengths, Spiritual Changes, and Appreciation of Life) six years later. Controlling for time since death, threat appraisals, active coping, avoidant coping, seeking support from parents or guardians, seeking support from other adu...
Source: Omega - February 22, 2009 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Wolchik SA, Coxe S, Tein JY, Sandler IN, Ayers TS Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Death anxiety in a national sample of United States funeral directors and its relationship with death exposure, age, and sex.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the level of death anxiety among a national sample of United States funeral directors with varying levels of death exposure, age, and sex. Utilizing the Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale (MFODS), the results showed a significant, but weak negative relationship between levels of death anxiety and the participants' reported number of funerals attended per year. The correlation between death anxiety scores and the number of reported embalming cases performed yearly was, however, not significant. We found a significant negative correlation between death an...
Source: Omega - February 22, 2009 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Harrawood LK, White LJ, Benshoff JJ Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Changes in gender discrimination after death: evidence from a cemetery.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Information on tombstones from a large cemetery in New York State were analyzed for gender discrimination. Criteria for gender bias were indications of familial relationships, absence of surnames, and absence of maiden names combined with surname for married women. Overall, females were far more likely to be identified in terms of familial relationships and were far less likely to have their married surname included on their gravestone. However, when the data were divided into 50 year epochs, it was apparent that identification of women in terms of familial relationships had become far less common and indication of sur...
Source: Omega - February 22, 2009 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Abel EL Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

The impact of holidays on suicide in Hungary.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The suicide rate on religious and public holidays was examined for 133,699 suicides for Hungary for the period 1970-2002. For both men and women, more suicides were committed on Monday, while fewer were committed on the weekends. More suicides occurred on New Year's Day than expected. On Christmas Day and on Easter Sunday and Monday, suicides were less frequent only for men, a result consistent with Durkheim's theory. There was less evidence for Gabennesch's broken promise effect on the days after the holidays. National holidays had no impact on the frequency of suicide. PMID: 19227004 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Omega)
Source: Omega - February 22, 2009 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Zonda T, Bozsonyi K, Veres E, Lester D, Frank M Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Who enrolls in college death education courses? A longitudinal study.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article addresses the question of why students take death education courses in college by examining data collected from death education classes over a span of 20 years and 3 decades (1985-2004). The results document the magnitude and consistency of the at-risk student. The authors discuss the precautionary steps they take and call for a renewed discourse on ethical considerations in death education. PMID: 19112872 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Omega)
Source: Omega - January 3, 2009 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Brabant S, Kalich D Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Exploring the beliefs underlying attitudes to active voluntary euthanasia in a sample of Australian medical practitioners and nurses: a qualitative analysis.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
A qualitative study explored beliefs about active voluntary euthanasia (AVE) in a sample (N = 18) of medical practitioners and nurses from Australia, where AVE is not currently legal. Four behaviors relating to AVE emerged during the interviews: requesting euthanasia for oneself, legalizing AVE, administering AVE to patients if it were legalized, and discussing AVE with patients if they request it. Using thematic analysis, interviews were analyzed for beliefs related to advantages and disadvantages of performing these AVE behaviors. Medical practitioners and nurses identified a number of similar benefits for performing...
Source: Omega - January 3, 2009 Category: Palliative Care Authors: White KM, Wise SE, Young RM, Hyde MK Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

How religion comforts the dying: a qualitative inquiry.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study found that religion, when it comforted these dying people, did so by offering a relationship to the dying, by giving the hope of life after death, through identifications, and through the assurance of cosmic order. The authors suggest theoretical perspectives accounting for these functions. PMID: 19112874 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Omega)
Source: Omega - January 3, 2009 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Pevey CF, Jones TJ, Yarber A Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Death anxiety in institutionalized and non-institutionalized elderly people in Spain.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
To know the level of death anxiety using the Templer Death Anxiety Scale (DAS) (1970) (Ramos's Spanish adaptation, 1982)) we chose subjects older than 65 years (N = 227) to study, on one hand, the existing relation between cognitive-affective reactions toward death and the perception of the passing of time and, on the other, a group of variables which include the place of residence, age, gender, life reflection, health disorders, psychological problems, religious aspects, and socio-demographics features. To undertake this, a questionnaire was administered in which the participants answered according to their degree of ...
Source: Omega - January 3, 2009 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Portal Moreno R, de la Fuente Solana EI, Aleixandre Rico M, Lozano Fernández LM Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Islam and suicide: a short personal communication.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Islamic countries display lower suicide rates compared to the other countries of the world. Since most studies dealing with the relationships between Islam and suicide have focused on the extent of the problem and not the underlying mechanisms, the focus of this brief communication is to provide a rather more in-depth discussion regarding the mechanism of this relation. It also covers issues which may have an adverse effect on suicide within Islamic countries and consequently tries to sketch a path ahead in the area of suicide research within the Islamic countries. PMID: 19112876 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Omega)
Source: Omega - January 3, 2009 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Rezaeian M Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Internet support groups for suicide survivors: a new mode for gaining bereavement assistance.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Taken among parents who sustained the loss of a child to suicide this study explores the participation of parents in Internet support groups, comparing their demographic and loss-related characteristics (N = 104) to other parent survivors participating in face-to-face support groups (N = 297). Contrary to expectations that Internet affiliates would be concentrated in under-served rural areas, we found similar levels of urban, suburban, small city and rural residents in both Internet and face-to-face subsamples. Bivariate and multivariate analyses suggested several important factors contributing to interest in Internet ...
Source: Omega - October 8, 2008 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Feigelman W, Gorman BS, Beal KC, Jordan JR Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Implementing a triangulation protocol in bereavement research: a methodological discussion.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article describes how an interdisciplinary research team implemented a triangulation protocol in a study of the needs of bereaved parents. Triangulation enabled the integration of diverse data sources, methods, and disciplinary perspectives. These processes yielded a more meaningful typology of bereaved parents' needs than would have otherwise been possible. Extending the use of triangulation will enhance multi-faceted understandings of bereavement. PMID: 18837173 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Omega)
Source: Omega - October 8, 2008 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Briller SH, Meert KL, Schim SM, Thurston CS, Kabel A Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

The reporting of grief by one newspaper of record for the U.S.: the New York Times.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
One source people can rely on for clues on how to grieve a loss is through accounts of such experiences reported in the mass media. This research examines how grief has been reported at one newspaper of record for the U.S.: The New York Times. Using theories of social construction and the sick role, this exploratory study attempts to observe whether grieving is portrayed by media as a social problem, particularly as a health or medical issue which can be treated and cured, and also discusses those who are not identified in the mourner role in newspaper reports. PMID: 18837174 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Omega)
Source: Omega - October 8, 2008 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Hilliker L Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Facts and myths about suicide: a study of Jewish and Arab students in Israel.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Discussion focuses on the influence of the different cultural characteristics of lifestyle and the social control systems among Jews and Arabs in Israel on perceptions toward suicide. PMID: 18837175 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Omega)
Source: Omega - October 8, 2008 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Katz-Sheiban B, Eshet Y Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Are cross-cultural comparisons of norms on death anxiety valid?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article calls upon psychologists who develop death anxiety scales to disclose their presuppositions about death before administering a questionnaire. By disclosing his or her ontology a psychologist provides a means of disclosing his or her intentionality in responding to the items. This humanistic paradigm allows for an interactive participation between investigator and subject. Lester, Templer, and Abdel-Khalek (2006-2007) enriched psychology with significant empirical data on several correlates of death anxiety. But all scientists, especially psychologists, will always have alternative interpretations of the same e...
Source: Omega - October 8, 2008 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Beshai JA Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

A brief research note: helplessness, hopelessness, and haplessness as predictors of suicidal ideation: a cross-cultural study.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Scales to measure helplessness and hopelessness were found to have good reliability and were significantly correlated with suicidal ideation in both Turkish and American respondents. PMID: 18837177 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Omega)
Source: Omega - October 8, 2008 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Gençöz F, Vatan S, Walker R, Lester D Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Making sense of loss: a content analysis of end-of-life practitioners' therapeutic approaches.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study aimed to further the dialogue in the field of thanatology by surveying and describing the therapeutic approaches that EOL practitioners most commonly report using to facilitate meaning-making. A total of 119 practitioners from a range of EOL disciplines were surveyed to write about their intervention strategies for helping clients/patients make sense of loss. Overall, participants discussed using 23 different therapeutic approaches that comprised three overarching categories: 1) presence of the helping professional; 2) elements of the process; and 3) therapeutic procedures. Importantly, the results also indicate...
Source: Omega - August 7, 2008 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Currier JM, Holland JM, Neimeyer RA Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Predictors of children's understandings of death: age, cognitive ability, death experience and maternal communicative competence.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
A child's age, cognitive ability, and exposure to death in the environment have been documented as major factors affecting the formation of a mature death concept. The present study investigated the relationships between these three factors (age, cognitive ability, and death experience) and children's understandings of death, as well as the relationship between mothers' communicative competence and children's understandings of death. Thirty-seven children (ages 48-96 months) completed three cognitive tasks and answered four dichotomous questions about death. Their mothers (N = 37) responded in writing to 16 questions a...
Source: Omega - August 7, 2008 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Hunter SB, Smith DE Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Personifications of personal and typical death as related to death attitudes.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The present article examined differences in personifications of personal and typical death as a function of attitudes about death. Ninety-eight students enrolled in psychology classes were randomly assigned to personify death as a character in a movie depicting either their own deathbed scene or the deathbed scene of the typical person prior to completing the Death Attitude Profile-Revised. The results supported the conceptual distinction between attitudes about personal death and death in general. Participants in the personal death condition personified death more frequently as a gentle-comforting image and less frequ...
Source: Omega - August 7, 2008 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Bassett JF, McCann PA, Cate KL Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

African Americans in bereavement: grief as a function of ethnicity.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Few empirical studies have explored the grieving process among different ethnic groups within the United States, and very little is known about how African Americans and Caucasians may differ in their experience of loss. The purpose of this study was to examine the African-American experience of grief, with particular emphasis on issues of identity change, interpersonal dimensions of the loss, and continuing attachments with the deceased. Participants were 1,581 bereaved college students (940 Caucasians and 641 African Americans) attending classes at a large southern university. Each participant completed the Inventory...
Source: Omega - August 7, 2008 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Laurie A, Neimeyer RA Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

The reliability and validity of revised Collett-Lester Fear of Death Scale (version 3) in a Nigerian population.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The purpose of the study was to assess the reliability and validity of the Collett-Lester Fear of Death Scale in a Nigerian population. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among medical students using the Collett-Lester fear of death questionnaire, demographic variables were also obtained. A total of 175 students completed the questionnaire. Reliability score was good and convergent validity was also good. We concluded that the scale has good validity and reliability score among this population. PMID: 18680890 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Omega)
Source: Omega - August 7, 2008 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Kolawole MS, Olusegun AK Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Perinatal loss: a qualitative study in Northern Ireland.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article describes the experiences of women in Northern Ireland who have experienced a miscarriage or stillbirth. Pregnancy loss encompasses several dimensions of loss for women, loss of the future, loss of self-identity, and the loss of anticipated parenthood. The study explored how women emotionally responded to loss and the care they received from medical staff. Burial arrangements for the remains of the baby are also explored. The methodology adopted a narrative approach based upon in-depth interviews with 23 women who attended pregnancy loss self-help groups. The women's narratives highlight their emotional respon...
Source: Omega - May 30, 2008 Category: Palliative Care Authors: McCreight BS Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

The social relations of bereavement in the Caribbean.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The objectives of this article are to discuss the various types of behaviors associated with grief and bereavement, and to examine the relationships, consequences, and outcomes of bereavement practices among the various religious and ethnic groups in the English-speaking Caribbean Islands of Jamaica, Trinidad, Grenada, and Barbados. The rituals associated with death and grief differs across cultures and is greatly influenced by religious beliefs and traditions. How these rituals are played out depend on the culture of origin and level of acculturation of the various groups into mainstream society. In the Caribbean region, ...
Source: Omega - May 30, 2008 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Marshall R, Sutherland P Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

The death of mourning: from Victorian crepe to the little black dress.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Mourning is a natural response to loss. In the late eighteenth century and throughout the nineteenth century, in England and France, the bereaved was expected to follow a complex set of rules, particularly among the upper classes, with women more bound to adhere to these customs than men. Such customs involved wearing heavy, concealing, black costume and the use of black crepe veils. Special black caps and bonnets were worn with these ensembles. Widows were expected to wear these clothes up to four years after their loss to show their grief. Jewelry often made of dark black jet or the hair of the deceased was used. To ...
Source: Omega - May 30, 2008 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Bedikian SA Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

"The wholeness of things": infusing diversity and social justice into death education.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article presents resources and strategies for the infusion of diversity and social justice themes into an undergraduate death and dying course. The intent is not to replace or dismiss existing thanatological insights and debates, but rather to widen the cultural perspective to bring these insights and debates into conversation with multiple ways of perceiving and understanding. The article covers definitions, goals and rationales, challenges in identifying and developing appropriate resources, and overall course design. It also explores readings, audiovisual materials, class activities, and pedagogical approaches to f...
Source: Omega - May 30, 2008 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Fowler KL Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Turkish health professional's attitude toward euthanasia.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The cross-sectional study was administrated between April and September 2006. Participants are doctors, nurses, and midwives. Between these dates we met only 750 health staff (doctor, nurse, and midwife). Six hundred thirty-two of them responded to our questionnaire, 122 of them were in Manisa city, and 510 of them in Erciyes. We sought to identify variables that contribute to euthanasia attitude, including demographics, in order to demonstrate Turkish doctors', nurses', and midwives' attitudes toward euthanasia and to compare their attitudes in this regard. The data was collected by a two-part questionnaire. The first...
Source: Omega - May 30, 2008 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Karadeniz G, Yanikkerem E, Pirinçci E, Erdem R, Esen A, Kitapçioğlu G Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Does religiosity help Muslims adjust to death?: a research note.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Death is the end of life. But Muslims believe death is an event between two lives, not an absolute cessation of life. Thus religiosity may influence Muslims differently about death. To explore the impact of religious perception, thus religiosity, a cross-sectional, descriptive, analytic and correlational study was conducted on 150 Muslims. Self-declared healthy Muslims equally from both sexes (N = 150, Age range--20 to 50 years, Minimum education--Bachelor) were selected by stratified sampling and randomly under each stratum. Subjects, divided in five levels of religiosity, were assessed and scored for the presence of ...
Source: Omega - May 30, 2008 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Hossain MS, Siddique MZ Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Beyond death: inheriting the past and giving to the future, transmitting the legacy of one's self.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study explores the phenomenon of legacy as a component of the aging experience among women. Against a backdrop of prior focus on transmission of material possessions as the primary form of legacy, the concept is critically examined in developing an expanded, theoretically and empirically grounded perspective. In-depth interviews with 38 women, ranging in age from 31 to 94 and representing diverse marital, parental, and health statuses, reveal multiple dimensions of leaving a legacy in terms of content, creation, and transmission. Through the stories of the participants in this study, legacy emerges as a means of passi...
Source: Omega - April 26, 2008 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Hunter EG Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Problematic emotions and maternal grief.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The study was an empirical examination of the relation of personality proneness to "problematic social emotions"--envy (Dispositional Envy Scale), jealousy (Interpersonal Jealousy Scale), and shame and guilt (Personal Feelings Questionnaire-2)--to maternal grief (Perinatal Grief Scale-33) following miscarriage, stillbirth, neonatal death, or infant/child death. The 441 women who participated in the study were enrolled from the Website, e-mail contact lists, and parent support groups of an organization that offers information and support to bereaved parents. All four problematic emotions were positively correlated with ...
Source: Omega - April 26, 2008 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Barr P, Cacciatore J Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Gloomy Sunday: did the "Hungarian suicide song" really create a suicide epidemic?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The effect of art on suicide risk has been a neglected topic in suicidology. The present article focuses on what is probably the best known song concerning suicide, Gloomy Sunday, the "Hungarian suicide song." An analysis of historical sources suggests that the song was believed to trigger suicides. It was, for example, banned by the BBC in England until 2002. The alleged increase in suicides in the 1930s associated with the playing of the song may be attributed to audience mood, especially the presence of a large number of depressed persons as a result of the Great Depression. The influence of music on suicide may be ...
Source: Omega - April 26, 2008 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Stack S, Krysinska K, Lester D Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Figures of grief: metaphors from a bereavement writing group.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In a community-based bereavement writing group, patterns of metaphor emerged and helped the group members identify and deal with particularly challenging aspects of death and grief, including taboo subjects such as abuse and suicide. The metaphors show how a bereavement writing group functioned to address the needs of people coping with different kinds of grief effectively and efficiently. Analysis of the specific metaphors suggests why figurative language enabled the group to bond quickly and strongly, delve into the complex emotions death elicits, and integrate experiences of loss and grief safely and productively. T...
Source: Omega - April 26, 2008 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Young E Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Why does zeno the stoic hold his breath? "Zenoism" as a new variable for studying suicide.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article presents two studies testing out this new variable (zenoism): in Study One (n = 233), we explore the moderating effects of religiosity and gender on zenoism, depression, demoralization, and suicidality. In Study Two (n = 137), we explore these same moderating effects on zenoism, fear of dependency, value of life, and favorability toward physician-assisted suicide (PAS). Results indicate: 1) men and non-religious respondents (especially men) zenoize more than women and religious respondents; 2) non-religious respondents, (especially men) are more generally favorable to PAS and more suicidal; 3) Zenoism is negat...
Source: Omega - April 26, 2008 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Kaplan KJ, Ficker L, Dodge N, Thiel K, Folk M, Wallrabenstein I, Laird PG Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Change in depression of spousal caregivers of dementia patients following patient's death.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Caring for an elderly spouse with dementia places a heavy burden on spousal caregivers and often results in chronic depression. Little has been written about change in depression caregivers experience from before to after the death of the spouse with dementia. This longitudinal study examines change in depression of spousal caregivers that occurs following death of the dementia patient. Two theoretical models, the Relief and Stress Models, are discussed in terms of caregiver depression after the death of the dementia-patient care-recipient spouse. These two theoretical models were tested using longitudinal data from th...
Source: Omega - February 28, 2008 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Tweedy MP, Guarnaccia CA Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Psychosocial effects of war experiences among displaced children in southern Darfur.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study focused on assessing the psychosocial effects of the long standing, high intensity, and guerrilla-style of warfare among displaced children in Southern Darfur. The goal was to better understand the etiology, prognosis, and treatment implications for traumatic reactions, depression, and grief symptoms in this population. Three hundred thirty-one children aged 6-17 from three IDP Camps were selected using a quota sampling approach and were administered a Demographic Questionnaire, Child Post Traumatic Stress Reaction Index, Child Depression Inventory, and the Expanded Grief Inventory. Forty-three percent were girl...
Source: Omega - February 28, 2008 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Morgos D, Worden JW, Gupta L Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Special considerations in conducting bereavement focus groups.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article builds on key articles discussing ethical, methodological, logistical, and analytical issues in conducting focus groups with vulnerable populations (Owen, 2001; Seymour, Bellamy, Gott, Ahmedzai, & Clark, 2002). For bereaved people, vulnerability stems from heightened potential for harm by virtue of participation in sensitive, personal exploration of death-related experiences. We discuss reasons for selecting focus group methods and our experiences with planning and implementing focus groups with bereaved people. Issues found to be highly salient in our work include: team composition, participant recruitmen...
Source: Omega - February 28, 2008 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Briller SH, Schim SM, Meert KL, Thurston CS Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals

Religiosity and preferences for life-prolonging medical treatments in African-American and white elders: a mediation study.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
We examined a dimension of religiosity frequently invoked in end-of-life research-guidance by God's will-as a potential mediator of racial differences in such treatment preferences. Three hundred African-American and White men and women aged 60 or older participated in a 35-minute telephone interview that elicited preferences for four common life-prolonging treatments in each of nine health scenarios. The questionnaire included the five-item God's will (GW) scale, a health conditions checklist, a depression measure, and sociodemographic questions. GW mediated racial differences at least partially for most treatments and in...
Source: Omega - February 28, 2008 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Winter L, Dennis MP, Parker B Tags: Omega (Westport) Source Type: journals