Outcomes and Coping Following Parental Bereavement

........................................................................................................................... 1 Background ....................................................................................................................... 1 Method .............................................................................................................................. 1 Results ............................................................................................................................... 1 Conclusions ....................................................................................................................... 2 Publications Arising from this Thesis ........................................................................... 7 Chapter One Introduction ......................................................................................... 20 1.0 Abstract ..................................................................................................................... 20 1.0.1 Background .................................................................................................. 20 1.0.2 Method .......................................................................................................... 20 1.0.3 Results .......................................................................................................... 20 1.0.4 Conclusions .................................................................................................. 20 1.1 Overview ................................................................................................................... 21 1.1.1 Definition of Bereavement ........................................................................... 21 1.2 Historical Perspective on Grief and Bereavement .................................................... 21 1.2.1 Freud’s Comparison of Mourning and Melancholia .................................... 21 1.2.2 Engel’s Theory of Grief as a Disease ........................................................... 22 1.2.3 Bowlby’s Attachment Perspective on Loss .................................................. 22 1.2.4 Parkes and Weiss’s Psychosocial Transitions in Bereavement .................... 24 1.3 Contemporary Models of Bereavement .................................................................... 25 1.3.1 Dual Process Model of Bereavement ........................................................... 25 1.3.2 Integrative Risk Factor Framework for Coping with Bereavement ............. 27 1.4 Social Theories of Bereavement...............................................................................28 1.5 Prolonged Grief as a Distinct Diagnostic Condition ................................................ 28 1.6 Outcomes for Bereaved Parents ................................................................................ 32 1.6.1 Health Outcomes .......................................................................................... 32 1.6.2 Changes in Social Functioning ..................................................................... 34 1.6.3 Emotional Consequences ............................................................................. 35 1.7 Aims of the Thesis .................................................................................................... 35 1.8 Thesis Structure ........................................................................................................ 36 Chapter Two – Literature Review of Factors Associated with Differential Outcomes of Parental Bereavement ............................................................................ 38 2.0 Abstract ..................................................................................................................... 38 2.0.1 Background .................................................................................................. 38 2.0.2 Method .......................................................................................................... 38 2.0.3 Results .......................................................................................................... 38 2.0.4 Conclusions .................................................................................................. 39 2.