Verhalen van rouw. De betekenis van steun op school voor jonger en met een verlieservaring

Abstract

This study focuses on adolescents between the age of twelve to nineteen years old who have experienced a loss in the family (father, mother or sibling) during the last five years. The primary objective of the study is the impact of supportive interventions at school for adolescents with a loss experience in the family. This is the way we try to obtain insight in bereavement in general and the meaning of bereavement for an adolescent in particular. One of the supportive interventions is a support group and the other is a structured method for self reflection, the SCM-L (Self Confrontation Method-Loss version), a narrative approach. The study concerned 105 adolescents: an intervention group of 55 adolescents and a control group of 50 adolescents. 32 Adolescents joined a support group at school, 12 adolescents worked with the SCM-L and 11 adolescents did both (the combination group). In the research design we used effect research and process research. The improvement that shows up is seen in the intervention group and in the control group. Specific attention of any kind, even by being asked to fill in the questionnaires, can possibly contribute to the well being of these students. However, out of the verbal contact and the process research, the students seem to be very satisfied, experience more support and sometimes they have learned new coping strategies. But the measurements don't show a noticeable decrease of the symptoms of bereavement and the well being is hardly measurably grown. Surely there are changes in the process the SCM-L makes them visible. But we may not simply compare them with the results of the effect research. This study made a contribution by improving several methodological shortcomings in earlier research such as including a non-intervention control group, assessment, attendance, and dropout percentage at the intervention group. And it is one of the few researches where 'methodological pluralism' is used to study bereavement in the adolescence by combining qualitative and quantitative research in one design