Constructivist theories recently have begun to inform understandings of grief, emphasizing the role of meaning making in adaptation to bereavement. In this article we review empirical studies using qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods, investigating how three activities of meaning reconstruction are involved in the grieving process: sense making, benefit finding, and identity change. In particular, we consider how critical processes have been operationally defined and how study methods and designs have constrained what can be concluded from this burgeoning field of research. We conclude by positing an integrated model of meaning reconstruction pathways as a heuristic guide to further research and briefly note the implications of this model for clinical practice.Victor Frankl's (1962) seminal work, Man's Search for Meaning, asserted that people are driven by a psychological need to find or create a sense of meaning and purpose in their lives, and that this drive can facilitate their capacity to face and transcend even the most horrific of experiences. This theme has struck a deep chord not only in psychology, but also in philosophy, art, literature, and

Drawing on attachment theory and constructivist conceptualizations of bereavement, the authors assessed the relation between continuing bonds coping and meaning reconstruction following the death of a loved one and complicated grief symptomatology. Five hundred six young adults in the first two years of bereavement from a variety of losses completed the Inventory of Complicated Grief along with measures of the strength of their ongoing attachment to the deceased and their capacity to make sense of the loss, find benefit in the experience, and reconstruct a progressive sense of identity following the death. Several variables concerning the survivor, his or her relationship to the deceased, and the nature of the death functioned as risk factors for heightened distress, but their role was generally moderated by meaning-making, often to the point of non-significance. In contrast, higher levels of benefit-finding and positive identity change were associated with lower levels of bereavement complication. Finally, an interaction emerged between sense-making and ongoing attachment to the deceased, suggesting that strong continuing bonds predicted greater levels of traumatic and especially separation distress, but only when the survivor was unable to make sense of the loss in personal, practical, existential, or spiritual terms.

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a powerful diagnostic/imaging technique requiring the production of the short-lived positron emitting isotopes 11 C, 13 N, 15 O and 18 F by proton irradiation of natural/enriched targets using cyclotrons. The development of PET has been hampered due to the size and shielding requirements of nuclear installations. Recent results show that when an intense laser beam interacts with solid targets, megaelectronvolt (MeV) protons capable of producing PET isotopes are generated. This report describes how to generate intense PET sources of 11 C and 18 F using a petawatt laser beam. The work describing the laser production of 18 F through a (p,n) 18 O reaction, and the subsequent synthesis of 2-[ 18 F] is reported for the first time. The potential for developing compact laser technology for this purpose is discussed.

Although increasing numbers of grief theorists, researchers, and therapists have begun to focus on the quest for meaning in lives disrupted by loss, no convenient and psychometrically validated measure of meanings made specifically in bereavement has been available to guide their efforts. To construct such a measure, the authors began with a systematic content analysis of sense-making, benefit finding, and identity reconstruction themes gleaned from the narrative responses of a sample of 162 adults who were diverse in their age, ethnicity, relationship to the decedent, cause of death, and severity of their grief response. These were then formulated into a set of 65 candidate items in a Likert scale format representing the level of the respondent's endorsement of the item in the past week. Subsequent administration to a second sample of 300 bereaved respondents permitted factor analysis of this pilot version of the Grief and Meaning Reconstruction Inventory (GMRI), and reduced the items to 29, which loaded on 5 distinct factors, labeled Continuing Bonds, Personal Growth, Sense of Peace, Emptiness and Meaninglessness, and Valuing Life. Both the overall GMRI and its constituent factors showed good internal consistency and strong convergent validity in the form of negative correlations with established measures of bereavement-related negative emotions, symptoms of complicated grief, and more general psychological distress and mental health symptomatology, and positive correlations with grief related personal growth. The authors close by noting several specific research and clinical applications of the measure, which could play a useful role in testing and refining contemporary models of meaning made in the wake of loss.

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