Losing a parent to suicide: Posttraumatic stress, sense of coherence and family functioning in children, adolescents and remaining parents before attending a grief support program
- Författare
- Anneli Silvén Hagström, Ulla Forinder, Emma Hovén
- Titel
- Losing a parent to suicide: Posttraumatic stress, sense of coherence and family functioning in children, adolescents and remaining parents before attending a grief support program
- Utgivningsår
- 2024
- Tidskrift
- Death StuDies
- Sidor
- 1-9
- Url
- DOI: 10.1080/07481187.2024.2361759
- Sammanfattning
Parental suicide in childhood increases the risk of mental ill-health, substance use andpremature mortality, particularly through suicide. Postvention supports tailored to thewell-being and functioning of suicide-bereaved children and their remaining parents are thusof critical importance to counteract negative development. This explorative cross-sectionalstudy seeks clinically relevant knowledge by investigating posttraumatic stress (PTS), sense ofcoherence (SOC) and family functioning among children (n = 22), adolescents (n = 18) andparents (n = 40) before their attendance at a family-based grief support program. The resultsdemonstrate critical health outcomes for children and parents, and in particular for adolescents.Clinically relevant symptoms of PTS were found in 36% of children, 65% of adolescents, and37% of parents. All groups showed lower SOC than the norm. Adolescents reporteddysfunctional family functioning for the dimensions Communication and AffectiveResponsiveness. Psychoeducational and trauma-informed support is recommended wherefamily communication and meaning construction of suicide is given special attention