Bereavement

1
Bereavement

• Coping With The Death of a Family Member
• William Shunkamolah, B.S.
• University of Montana

2
The American Indian Experience of Death

• American Indians experience 1-2 losses every year
  v. Non-Indians experience 1-2 losses every 9-13
  years.
• ONell, T. (1996). Disciplined hearts History,
  identity, and depression in an American Indian
  community.
• Berkeley University of California Press.
• The death rate among the Montana Billings area
  Indian Health Service for all causes of death is
  83 above the United States death rate of all
  races, and 34 above all Indian Health Service
  areas.
• Andersen, S.R., Belcourt, G.M., Langwell, K.M.
  (2005). Building Healthy Tribal Nations in
  Montana and Wyoming Through Collaborative
  Research and Development. American Journal of
  Public Health, 95(5), 784-789.

3
Grief and Bereavement

• Bereavement
• Suffering the death of a loved one.
• Grief
• Emotional distress caused by or as if by
  bereavement.
• Merriam Webster Dictionary 1994

4
Six Determinants of Grief Experience

• Who was the person?
• What is the nature of the attachment?
• Strength of attachment
• Security of the attachment
• Ambivalence in the relationship
• Mode of death
• Historical Antecedents
• Personality Variables
• Social Variables
• Harvard Bereavement Study (Parkes, 1972)

5
(No Transcript)
6
Positive Aspects of Grief

• Appreciation for the value of life
• Found strength
• Tragedy brings people together
• Two general types of coping behaviors
• Support from friends and family
• Minority of participants were significantly
  worse than before
• Introduced to and united with unfamiliar family
  members
• Frantz, Trolley, Farrell (1998). Positive
  Aspects of Grief. Pastoral Psychology, 47(1),
  3-17.

7
Positive Aspects of Grief

• About half of the identified coping behaviors
  that were identified as helpful were things that
  provided respite from focusing on loss (i.e.,
  reading, exercise, etc.)
• The other half of the identified coping behaviors
  dealt directly with the deceased and grief.

8
Literature/Research regarding American Indian
population

• Stone, J.B. (1998) Traditional and Contemporary
  Lakota Death, Dying, Grief, and Bereavement
  Beliefs and Practices.
• Theoretical Findings
• Lakota elders preferred interventions that
  included family, social, community, tribal, and
  ceremonial activities.
• Many traditional ceremonies and derivatives still
  exist and are used in various forms.

9
Literature/Research Cont.

• Clinical Findings
• Importance of careful clinical assessment (i.e.
  level of acculturation)
• Attention to both Traditional and Western
  treatment methods and bereavement practices

10
Expanding Knowledge of Bereavement and Coping

• Qualitative Approach
• 16 American Indian Adults
• Interviews
• Transcription/Coding
• Findings
• What themes will emerge?
• How will American Indians differ from one another
  and Non-American Indians?