Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

6295

Author

Carlos Torres

Date

2017

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

Robert Neimeyer

Committee Member

Idia Thurston

Committee Member

Sean Phipps

Committee Member

Frank Andrasik

Abstract

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to examine how bereaved parents interactions with their deceased childs pediatric oncology professional care team have impacted their grief symptoms. Thirty participants whose children died of cancer one to three years ago completed an in-depth interview and surveys measuring meaning-making, depression, and grief symptoms. Correlational analyses of the measures found that an increase in meaning making was associated with lower depressive and grief symptoms. A content analysis of the interviews found that many participants regarded staff like family, had on-going relationships with staff after their child died, and described various ways staff interactions during treatment and after the childs death helped them make sense of their loss. Quantifying the interview data and statistically analyzing it along with the measures found that participants increased frequency of describing staffs positive impact on their grief correlated with higher meaning-making scores and lower grief symptom scores.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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