The return to the sacred path: Healing the historical trauma and historical unresolved grief response among the lakota through a psychoeducational group intervention

Abstract

This article, based on research conducted with Lakota human service providers, concludes that the Lakota (Teton Sioux) suffer from impaired grief of an enduring and pervasive quality. Impaired grief results from massive cumulative trauma associated with such cataclysmic events as the assassination of Sitting Bull, the Wounded Knee Massacre, and the forced removal of Lakota children to boarding schools.

The research studied a culturally syntonic four‐day psychoeducational intervention designed to initiate a grief resolution process for a group of 45 Lakota human service providers. The methodology included assessment at three intervals: (a)apre‐ and post‐test, utilizing a Lakota Grief Experience Questionnaire andthe semantic differential, (b) a self report evaluation instrument at the end of the intervention, and (c) a six‐week follow‐up questionnaire.

The results confirmed the hypotheses that: (a) education about historical trauma would lead to increased awareness of the impact and associated grief related affects of the traumatic Lakota history, (b) sharing these affects with other Lakota in a traditional context would provide cathartic relief, and (c) grief resolution would be initiated, including a reduction in grief affects, more positive identity, and a commitment to individual and community healing.     

Investigating the Factor Structure of a Brief Instrument to Measure Practitioners' Perceptions of Preparedness for Current Service Delivery Environments

ABSTRACT

Using a state-wide sample, this study investigated the development of a brief instrument to measure social work practitioners' perceptions of necessary knowledge and skill for current service delivery environments in the state of Florida. Exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation identified four factors: perceived knowledge of health insurance, perceived knowledge of risk management, perceived knowledge of mis-diagnosis, and perceived knowledge of documentation. This brief instrument may be useful to assess perceptions of specific knowledge and skill competency in educational and work settings.     

Social Work,Siblings, and SIDS: Conceptual and Case-Based Guidance for Family System Intervention

ABSTRACT

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is a tragic loss event within the family, impacting adults as well as children. This article uses three case illustrations to discuss the role of a SIDS event on the family system with a special focus on the emergent challenges for surviving siblings of various ages. Practice application examples are woven throughout the review to illustrate the age-specific grief responses which may occur following a SIDS event. The article also presents a theoretically supported intervention matrix that integrates models of bereavement support and family system responses, taking into account children's varying developmental needs and tasks based on sibling age.     

Grief Support Groups Used by Few—

Abstract

Few adult bereaved attend closed grief support groups, yet many of those who do attend say they are extremely helpful. This research explores factors influencing support group attendance, and the extent to which bereavement support needs are being met. Focus group discussions reveal that a broad scope of sources of support is available to the bereaved. Results show what is seen as unhelpful to them, and what might be more helpful to them. The study indicates many adult bereaved suffer from an overall lack of support and would benefit from more caring overtures from those around them. Findings from this small frontline hospice bereavement study point toward ideas for adjustments in support groups and innovative bereavement education and programming.     

'She cried a very little': Death,grief and mourning in working-class culture,c . 1880-1914

Working-class attitudes towards death and bereavement in late Victorian and Edwardian Britain have overwhelmingly been discussed in terms of the respectable and the pauper funeral. Analyses of the culture of grief (that is, the emotional responses of the working classes to bereavement) have been reduced to an assumption that material insecurity blunted sensibility. This article argues that the reduction of working-class responses to death to a dichotomy between respectable and pauper funerals has overlooked the cathartic function of the funeral, negated the potential for individuals to invest burial rites with personal meaning, and failed to consider responses to death outside public mourning rites. I contend that languages of grief adopted many verbal and symbolic signs that were often ephemeral to the external observer. Moreover, material anxiety did not limit sensibility; it necessitated flexibility in the articulation of emotion. In conclusion, I argue that the emotional underpinnings of the working-class family need to be re-examined, using a definition of sensibility which acknowledges the mutability of feeling and the malleability of its expression.     

The Aging Semantic Differential in Mandarin Chinese: Measuring Attitudes toward Older Adults in China

ABSTRACT

The Aging Semantic Differential (ASD) is the most widely used instrument to measure young people’s attitudes towards older adults. This study translated the ASD to Mandarin and examined its psychometric properties. The Mandarin-ASD contains three latent factors (Personality and Mental Health, Societal Participation, and Physical) that have high internal reliability and reasonable discriminate validity. Social work researchers, practitioners and allied professionals may utilize the ASD-Mandarin instrument to measure young people’s attitudes towards older adults in China. We issue a call for a universal-ASD that can be applied across different cultural contexts.     

Stillbirth: The Mother's Experience and Implications for Improving Care

ABSTRACT

More children die as a result of stillbirth than all other causes of infant deaths combined (Ananth, Shiliang, Kinzler, and Kramer, 2005; Goldenberg, Kirby, and Culhane, 2004; Froen, 2005; National Institute of Health, 2004); yet, mothers experiencing stillbirth are often left without support afterwards (Kubler-Ross, 2004; Fahey-McCarthy, 2003; Fletcher 2002; Saddler, 1987; DeFrain, 1986; Kirkley-Best & Kellner, 1982). Despite social work's growing involvement in care at the end of life, parents of stillborn children have not experienced consistent, relevant, and competent professional care in coping with the tragedy of death. Forty-seven women between the ages of 19 and 51 were recruited through nonprofit agencies that provide bereavement care to grieving families. Results of this qualitative study suggest that stillbirth is emotionally complex with long-lasting symptoms of grief and significant struggles to find meaning. The findings also support the need for perceived psychosocial and spiritual support from professional caregivers, family, and friends. The women's own experiences argue for comprehensive approaches to support the grief and loss of stillbirth, and for the importance of social work involvement in both immediate and longer term interventions.     

A Dual Process Model of Grief Counseling

Summary

This paper tests Stroebe and Schuf s Dual Process Model of Bereavement using data from the Changing Lives of Older Couples (CLOC), a prospective study of 1,532 married persons over the age of 65. This analysis focused on a weighted sample of 104 widowers and 492 widows at six months, 18 months, and four years later. Bradburn's Affect Balance Scale was used as the dependent variable, and the independent variables were based on Stroebe and Schut's bereavement model. The multiple regression analyses revealed that loss- and restoration-oriented activities were important throughout bereavement. Implications for bereavement counseling are discussed.     

The effects of socioeconomic inequalities of working life on health: implications for an ageing population

Abstract

This study examines suggestions that inequalities in health related to socioeconomic status (SES) will increase in older age. A representative sample of the New Zealand population aged 55–70 years (N = 6662) responded to a postal questionnaire with measures of health (SF-36), SES, and health-related behaviours. Hierarchical multiple regressions supported predictions that the SES of working life will continue to influence physical and mental health in early old age. The strongest predictor was self-reported economic living standards. This subjective measure of SES is an important construct for future investigations of health and wellbeing among older people in an ageing population.     

Chronic Illnesses and Depression Among Chinese Immigrant Elders

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of the study is to explore the unique effects of various chronic illnesses on depression in a sample of Chinese immigrant elders. Methods: The data were collected in the Greater Boston area at various social service agencies, social, and religious institutions. A self-administered sample of 177 Chinese-speaking immigrant elders was included in the study. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) was used to measure depressive symptoms in the study. Regression analysis was performed for three measures of depression: 7-selected CES-D scale, its subscale somatic symptoms, and depressive symptoms. Results: Chronic illnesses have various effects on the selected CES-D score, and its subscales under the total sample and the samples of male and female respondents. Conclusions: The findings suggest that medical, psychological, and social work treatments or interventions for depression should take the impact of chronic illnesses into consideration.     

Susceptibility to Emotional Contagion

Abstract

This article reports a psychometric evaluation of a measure of susceptibility to emotional contagion, designed to measure the degree to which a person is vulnerable to “catching” and sharing the emotion experienced by another. The scale was examined to test its application to depression, burnout, and impairment among practicing social workers. Data from a probability sample of 751 practicing social workers were collected in an anonymous survey about social workers' health and work issues. The sample was split to conduct exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The factor analyses resulted in a revised scale that demonstrated acceptable internal consistency reliability, good content validity, excellent factorial validity, and preliminary construct validity. Susceptibility to emotional contagion was related to burnout, depression, and professional impairment. Future recommendations are made and this instrument may be a useful tool for the identification, prevention, intervention, and education of social workers at risk for depression, burnout, and professional impairment.     

Convalescent patients as mental hospital employees 1

ABSTRACT

The operationalization and conceptualization of mindfulness into Westernized societies have shown certain challenges. Additional attention is needed to demonstrate the ways in which mindfulness is measured in youth and adolescents. This article explored the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure as a reliable and valid measure for youth in a convenience sample of fifth graders who are predominantly minority and living in an urban environment (n = 248). Results from an exploratory factor analysis show that construct validity was established with all 10 items loading on two factors. Unlike the original validation and many subsequent studies that were unidimensional, this study revealed two factors present in this sample: avoidance of feelings and present moment non-judgmental awareness. The model explained 50.37% of the total variance in the examination of mindfulness. The two factors also demonstrated acceptable divergent validity with measures of anxiety (factor 1: r = ?0.45; factor 2: r = ?0.67) and involuntary responses to stress (factor 1: r = ?0.55; factor 2: r = ?0.71). Discussion as to why two factors were found in our study, unlike many previous studies, is offered with suggestions for future research outlined.     

The role of the welfare state in supporting economic transitions following family bereavement: Comparing Britain and Israel

Despite its centrality to the experience of death and grief, it is only in recent years that the economic burden following family bereavement has been recognized by social care professionals and scholars. Based on the realization that death and bereavement are grounded in social context, and assuming this economic burden is a multifaceted phenomenon, the present study compares the British and Israeli welfare systems in three policy settings: social security, funeral services, and bereavement leave. The findings suggest that while in both systems bereavement and especially widowhood is considered a deserving category, recent pressures for restructuring the British welfare state have been successful in shifting provision from the state to the market. The findings also show that in both cases, albeit to a lesser extent in Israel, current policy measures are not fully aligned with critical scholarship on bereavement and its financial consequences, nor with socio‐economic and demographic trends. These disparities are addressed using the notion of disenfranchised grief and by emphasizing the pivotal, although often overlooked role of the welfare state in constituting it. Lastly, the differences between the two cases are discussed in terms of the powerful role of Judaism in shaping Israeli policy.     

Cross-Cultural Validation of the Child Abuse Potential Inventory in Finland: Preliminary Findings of the Study Among Parents Expecting a Baby

ABSTRACT

In order to decrease physical child abuse, measures to recognize parents' abuse potential are needed. In this article, cross-cultural validation of the Child Abuse Potential (CAP) Inventory, an American measure was used to screen child abuse potential in families. Data were collected in 2012 from Finnish families expecting a baby at maternity and child welfare clinics. The data come from 380 families, including 375 mothers and 303 spouses. The validation was conducted separately for mothers and spouses and was based on basic psychometric properties, such as reliability estimates, abuse scale construct validity, and the abuse scale factor structure. The internal consistency of the abuse scale was high among both the mothers and the spouses. There were some differences in abuse construct validity and the abuse scale factor structure compared to the original measure, which was written in English and tested in an American sample. Those differences were, however, similar to those found by other studies that used translated versions of the inventory. In summary, the CAP Inventory was found to be a valid screening tool for professionals to assess parents' child abuse potential in Finnish service settings, and therefore its implementation is recommended in maternity and child welfare clinics. The validation supports the cross-cultural use of the CAP Inventory and future research on the subject.     

Empowering Battered Women by Validating Their Decision-Making Skills

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate levels of moral reasoning among a sample of battered women and compare them with a national normative sample.

Method: The study involved collecting Defining Issues Test (DIT) data from 50 women (age, M = 33, SD = 10) beginning their stay at a shelter for battered women. Unlike the original method of assessing moral reasoning involving a lengthy interview, the DIT is a multiple-choice test. Consequently, it is easy to administer and score and, over the last 20 years, it has become the most widely used instrument for assessing moral reasoning.

Results: Analysis indicated that the battered women comprising the sample were employing levels of moral reasoning comparable with the national normative sample.

Conclusion: Implications of the findings for countering arguments that battered women are morally immature in the way in which they approach the stay/leave decision were explored and discussed.     

Health Technology Literacy: A Transdisciplinary Framework for Consumer-Oriented Practice

Abstract

The present study developed a typology of self-reported coping strategies used by older adults in adapting to vision impairment using qualitative analyses. Narrative data were examined from three previous quantitative studies of adaptation to vision loss. Major themes in coping with vision loss included difficulty in balancing norms of independence with the functional losses resulting from eye disease, and the importance of the informal social network. Importantly, a number of coping mechanisms that have not been examined in prior quantitative work were identified through the present qualitative analyses. Implications of this typology of self-reported coping with age-related vision loss for research and practice are discussed.     

Assessment of multiple constructs of social integration for older adults living in nursing homes

ABSTRACT

A variety of terms and measures have been used in the literature to denote being socially integrated, and many studies of older adults focus on only social networks or social support and often only include those living in the community. The purpose of this study was to assess multiple constructs of social integration (i.e., social networks, social capital, social support, and social engagement) for older adults in nursing homes. Data were collected from 140 older adults at 30 nursing homes in Kansas. We interviewed older adults’ in-person using a survey questionnaire, and used multilevel confirmatory factor analysis to analyze the data. The final model that included the four constructs had acceptable fit (χ² = 174.71; df = 112; p < .01; CFI = .93; RMSEA = .06; SRMR-W = .06; SRMR-B = .12). The results showed that the proposed model was supported at the individual level. At the between-level, social networks and social support were supported. Study results have methodological and practice/policy implications for the study of older adults in long term care settings. In particular, this study contributes to understanding how to operationally define and differentiate social integration variables in studies of older adults, particularly when study data are hierarchical.     

Mindfulness-based forgiveness groups for older adults

ABSTRACT

Interventions that enable individuals to be more forgiving toward themselves and others are important for older adults. This article describes a group intervention for adults aged 60 or older that integrates forgiveness-related skills with a mindfulness approach. The Mindfulness-based Forgiveness Group was designed to meet for eight sessions. The skills taught included: recognizing one’s own expectations and unenforceable rules, broadening one’s perspectives about the context of the transgression, and discovering positive intentions through exercises as well as a variety of meditations to cultivate mindfulness, self-compassion and forgiveness. Data from five Mindfulness-Based Forgiveness Groups were collected. Based on pre- and post-test measures, analyses indicate that participants improved significantly in relation to forgiveness, mindfulness/self-compassion, and mental health. Using qualitative post-test data from participants, we identify elements of the intervention that appear to be helpful. Suggestions are provided for social workers seeking to replicate and build upon this promising intervention.     

Grief and Intellectual Disability

Abstract

People with intellectual disabilities are living longer, which in turn leads to a higher probability that they will experience significant loss due to the death of someone they know. This paper describes a systemic therapeutic model, ROC, which combines bereavement therapy with training and support for staff. On reporting the effects of the ROC model, it is noted that changes over time in the type and nature of referrals has shown the ther apeutic value of the program. The author makes a case that the best way to detect and possibly prevent serious emotional problems in this population is to provide training and support in dealing with death and related issues for the service network surrounding these individuals.