NCJ Number
194868
Journal
Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Volume: 41 Issue: 5 Dated: May 2002 Pages: 505-513
Date Published
2002
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This study evaluated the efficacy of a manual-based bereavement group intervention for children who suffered suicide of a parent or sibling.
Abstract
The children chosen for the study were representative of children in the community who suffered parental or sibling suicide. The majority had no psychiatric disorders and had low levels of social adjustment problems. Intervention efficacy is evaluated as change in children’s symptoms of anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress, social adjustment, and parents’ depressive symptoms from initial to outcome assessments. Children’s anxiety and depression were reduced after intervention despite the persistence of posttraumatic stress symptoms or lack of change in social maladjustment. A targeted bereavement group intervention is a strategy for reducing suicide-bereaved children’s psychosocial distress and potentially preventing morbidities. Reported developmental variations in children’s grief were supported by this study’s observations of persistence of higher anxiety and depressive symptoms in younger children and young adolescents. Figures, tables, references