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Vilken buss går till himlen? Hur professionella inom sjukvården arbetar med barn som förlorat en förälder

Johnsson, Louise LU and Henriksson, Malin LU (2013) SOPA63 20131
School of Social Work
Abstract
When a parent dies, a person’s life comes to an end while others are forever changed. The aim of this thesis is to explore and identify the needs of bereaved children and to investigate how professionals within the Swedish public health care system, work to support children in grief.
The empirical part of this study was conducted over the course of two months in 2013. Four hospital counselors and one child psychologist in the Swedish region of Skåne served as subjects. The interviews were semi-structured and recorded using audio equipment. The empirical material was then analyzed using theories about communication and parental attachment.
The results show that when a child loses a parent this can have profound effects on their mental... (More)
When a parent dies, a person’s life comes to an end while others are forever changed. The aim of this thesis is to explore and identify the needs of bereaved children and to investigate how professionals within the Swedish public health care system, work to support children in grief.
The empirical part of this study was conducted over the course of two months in 2013. Four hospital counselors and one child psychologist in the Swedish region of Skåne served as subjects. The interviews were semi-structured and recorded using audio equipment. The empirical material was then analyzed using theories about communication and parental attachment.
The results show that when a child loses a parent this can have profound effects on their mental health and development. Grief in children is often expressed differently from one child to another and can sometimes be misinterpreted by adults. In addition, bereaved children have a great need of adult support to help them understand and process what has happened.
However, the results also show that adults often refrain from speaking to bereaved children about death in an effort to shield or protect them from reality. Consequently, children who need help to cope with the loss of a parent may feel lonely in their grieving process. For this reason, professionals working with bereaved children must often try to support parents in order to succeed in supporting their children. (Less)
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author
Johnsson, Louise LU and Henriksson, Malin LU
supervisor
organization
course
SOPA63 20131
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Social Work, Children’s’ grief, Counselor, Death of a Parent, Support, Communication
language
Swedish
id
3812604
date added to LUP
2013-06-14 16:00:51
date last changed
2013-06-14 16:00:51
@misc{3812604,
  abstract     = {{When a parent dies, a person’s life comes to an end while others are forever changed. The aim of this thesis is to explore and identify the needs of bereaved children and to investigate how professionals within the Swedish public health care system, work to support children in grief. 
The empirical part of this study was conducted over the course of two months in 2013. Four hospital counselors and one child psychologist in the Swedish region of Skåne served as subjects. The interviews were semi-structured and recorded using audio equipment. The empirical material was then analyzed using theories about communication and parental attachment.
The results show that when a child loses a parent this can have profound effects on their mental health and development. Grief in children is often expressed differently from one child to another and can sometimes be misinterpreted by adults. In addition, bereaved children have a great need of adult support to help them understand and process what has happened. 
However, the results also show that adults often refrain from speaking to bereaved children about death in an effort to shield or protect them from reality. Consequently, children who need help to cope with the loss of a parent may feel lonely in their grieving process. For this reason, professionals working with bereaved children must often try to support parents in order to succeed in supporting their children.}},
  author       = {{Johnsson, Louise and Henriksson, Malin}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Vilken buss går till himlen? Hur professionella inom sjukvården arbetar med barn som förlorat en förälder}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}