Citation

Houck JA. J. HIV AIDS Soc. Serv. 2007; 6(3): 97-112.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1300/J187v06n03_07

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study compared the grief reactions of people who mourned three different types of death: Cancer, HIV/AIDS, and suicide, and addressed the question whether these bereavement groups can be differentiated on the basis of their grief, as measured by the Grief Experience Questionnaire (GEQ; Barrett & Scott, 1989). The results indicate that these groups (cancer: N = 50, AIDS-related: N = 50, and suicide: N = 50) had different grief reactions, specifically, in the areas of stigmatization and unique reactions to suicide. The implications of these results afford grief counselors, health-care providers, and pastoral professionals, intervention strategies that enfranchise people, who may experience one of these types of deaths, to work through their grief. Furthermore, this understanding of specific grief characteristics can also be assimilated into a therapist's preferred bereavement paradigm, for example, stages of grief (Köbler-Ross, 1969), phases of bereavement (Parkes, 1972), or tasks of mourning (Worden, 2004). © by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

mental health; suicide; Suicide; Mental health; Counseling; Bereavement; Cancer; acquired immune deficiency syndrome; Disenfranchised grief; AIDS; human immunodeficiency virus; Grief Experience Questionnaire