Study On Grief Adjustment Of Parents Who Have Lost Their Only Child And Its Localized Grief Intervention Model

Nowadays,"parents who have lost their only child" is one of the hot issues which attract the attention of the society. With the increasing number of such a group, how to solve problems faced by this group arouses widespread concern in academic circle.Focusing on parents who have lost their only child, this study investigated their grief adjustment, grief exprience and post-traumatic stress disorder after their loss of only child, and analyzed main factors which influenced their grief adjustment. A combination of group and case intervention model was applied in the intervention of their psychological problems, and its effect was evaluated. The study tried to put forward a localized grief intervention model, with general applicability, for "parents who have lost their only child", and provide theoretical and experimental evidences for the construction of a localized grief intervention model suitable for China.This study took105valid samples as the research objects and adopted the combination of investigation and intervention as research ideas. First, cross sectional survey and quantitative research were applied in the study. Questionnaire was the main method to do psychological assessment. Subjects’s post-traumatic stress disorder, mental health, self-esteem, social support, coping styles, happiness levels and the meaning in life were respectively tested with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Self-rating Scale (PTSD-SS), Symptom Checklist90(SCL-90), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ), General Well-Being Schedule (GWS) and Purpose In Life Test (PIL), so as to explore the relationship between the grief adjustment of parents who have lost their only child and such variables as their coping styles, social support, self-esteem and the meaning in life. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used in qualitative study.6cases were interviewed, in order to investigate grief experience, grief adjustment and meaning reconstruction of parents who have lost their only child within Chinese culture, explore suitable approach to grief intervention and provide evidences for the construction of intervention model. On this basis, combining traditional Chinese psychotherapy thinking, evaluation was conducted on the intervention effect of the localized grief intervention model, in order to assess its effectiveness. Conclusions are as follows:1. This study reported relatively high positive detection of PTSD (69.5%), and there were varying degrees of differences in such dimensions as gender, education, average monthly household income and length of child’s death. 2. There was obvious psychological problems in parents who have lost their only child. Their mental health was generally lower than that of the normal people. The mental health of parents who have lost their only child was significantly related with coping styles, self-esteem, overall happiness and the meaning in life.3. This study put forward the grief adjustment model, proved that meaning reconstruction was an important strategy in the grief adjustment of parents who have lost their only child, and found that Buddhism and traditional Chinese culture had far-reaching influences on the reconstruction of the meaning of their lives.4. This study initially constructed a localized grief intervention model for parents who have lost their only child, and clarified the objectives, characteristics and procedures of grief intervention. The model, scientific and practical, could be used to coach the effective integration of Western grief counseling and Chinese culture.5. The localized grief intervention model, combination of group counseling and case consultation, was effective for the improvement of mental health and meaning of life of parents who have lost their only child.