Examining the Effectiveness of an Integrative Homicide Bereavement Intervention in Reducing Grief Symptoms Among Parents Who Have Lost a Child to Homicide: A Mixed-Methods Study
Subject Areas : general Psychology
Mohammad Reza Abdi
1
,
عباس ذبیح زاده
2
,
Mohammadali Rahmani
3
1 - Department of Counseling and Psychology, Tonekabon Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran
2 - Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
3 - Department of Counseling and Psychology, Tonekabon Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran
Keywords: Lived Experience, Complicated Grief, Homicide, Bereaved Parents, Homicide Grief Intervention,
Abstract :
Introduction: The present study aims to conceptualize complicated grief in parents who have lost a child to homicide. Additionally, it seeks to develop a specialized integrative homicide bereavement intervention tailored to address grief associated with such traumatic losses. Finally, the study evaluates the effectiveness of this intervention in reducing grief symptoms.
Research Method: This mixed-methods study was conducted in three phases. The first two phases utilized a qualitative phenomenological approach, while the third phase employed a quantitative experimental design. The target population consisted of parents who had lost a child to homicide. Participants were selected through purposive sampling from judicial courts in Gilan Province, Iran. In the first and second phases, data analysis was performed using Colaizzi's method. The third phase employed a one-way Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The research instruments included a diagnostic interview, the Grief Experience Questionnaire (GEQ), and the Integrative Homicide Bereavement Intervention (IHBI). The IHBI was implemented in 18 sessions of 90 minutes each, exclusively for the experimental group.
Findings: Based on the qualitative analysis of the interviews, three main themes were identified: intrapersonal context, interpersonal context, and the unknown context, along with 45 subthemes. Additionally, the effectiveness of the proposed intervention, after its development, was evaluated and confirmed (P ≤ 0.001).
Conclusion: Bereaved parents of homicide victims face not only intrapersonal and interpersonal challenges related to grief, but also a range of unknown difficulties within the unique context of homicide-related bereavement, which disrupt the healthy processing of grief-related emotions. Furthermore, the findings of this study indicate that the proposed intervention significantly reduced grief symptoms in these parents.
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