Family Bereavement Program Offers Long-Term Protection Against Depression

Children who experience the death of a parent are known to be at an increased risk of depression and other internalizing problems later in life. Astudy in theJournal of the American Academy of Child& Adolescent Psychiatry has found that children who together with their families participated in a bereavement program within 2.5 years of the death were less likely to experience depression up to 15 years later.“The findings from this study have implications for future research on the prevention of depression,” wrote Irwin Sandler, Ph.D., of Arizona State University and colleagues.Sandler and colleagues enrolled 244 youth aged 8 to 16 who had experienced the death of a parent 3 to 30 months prior to the study and their caregivers for a randomized, controlled trial. A total of 156 families participated in 12 sessions of a family bereavement program or were mailed three age-appropriate books about dealing with grief (literature control).The family bereavement program included separate group sessions for the children and their caregivers. The caregiver sessions focused on supporting grieving caregivers, strengthening positive parenting techniques such as active listening, and reducing children ’s exposure to stressful life events. The youth sessions focused on strengthening positive coping and emotion regulation skills. The children and their caregivers then came together for two joint sessions, where they could together practice their learned skills.Sandler and colleagues ...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: adolescents anxiety children death depression family bereavement grief Journal of the Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry positive parenting youth Source Type: research