The Melbourne Family Grief Study, I: Perceptions of family functioning in bereavement

David W. Kissane · Sidney Bloch · David L. Dowe · Raymond D. Snyder · Patrick Onghena · Dean Philip McKenzie +1 more

141 citations0/0 files storedAmerican Journal of Psychiatry

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Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health Death, Funerary Practices, and Mourning Family Dynamics and Relationships

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to identify patterns of family functioning in adult families after the death of a parent. METHOD: One hundred fifteen families completed measures of family functioning, grief, psychological state, and social adjustment 6 weeks (time 1), 6 months (time 2), and 13 months (time 3) after the death of a parent (a total of 670 individual responses). Cluster analytic methods were applied to develop a typology of perceptions of family functioning during bereavement. RESULTS: Five types of families emerged from dimensions of cohesiveness, conflict, and expressiveness on the Family Environment Scale. Thirty-six percent of the families were considered supportive because of their high cohesiveness, and another 23% resolved conflict effectively. Two types were dysfunctional: hostile families, distinguished by high conflict, low cohesiveness, and poor expressiveness, and sullen families, who had more moderate limitations in these three areas; they declined in frequency from 30% at time 1 to 15% at time 3. The remaining type (26%), termed intermediate, exhibited midrange cohesiveness, low control, and low achievement orientation. The typology at time 1 predicted typologies at time 2 and time 3. There were no age or gender differences among the family types, but offspring, as compared with spouses, were overrepresented in the hostile families. CONCLUSIONS: Family types can be identified, allowing at-risk families to be helped to prevent complications of grief. Screening with the family relationship index of the Family Environment Scale would facilitate such a family-centered approach.

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References

1988Psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory: Twenty-five years of evaluation 1986Circumplex Model VII: Validation Studies and FACES III 1985Bereavement: Reactions, Consequences, and Care.1991Living beyond loss: death in the family 1990Conceptual and Empirical Approaches to Developing Family‐Based Assessment Procedures: Resolving the Case of the Family Environment Scale 1987Biopsychosocial aspects of bereavement 1982Evaluation of a Modified Self-Report Measure of Social Adjustment 1969The Classification of Depression by Numerical Taxonomy

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