Domains of Social Support That Predict Bereavement Distress Following Homicide Loss

Abstract

Psychological adaptation following homicide loss can prove more challenging for grievers than other types of losses. Although social support can be beneficial in bereavement, research is mixed in terms of identifying whether it serves as a buffer to distress following traumatic loss. In particular, studies have not parsed out specific domains of social support that best predict positive bereavement outcomes. Recruiting a sample of 47 African Americans bereaved by homicide, we examined six types of social support along with the griever's perceived need for or satisfaction with each and analyzed them in relation to depression, anxiety, complicated grief, and posttraumatic stress disorder outcomes. Results of multivariate analyses revealed that the griever's level of satisfaction with physical assistance at the initial assessment best predicted lower levels of depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder levels 6 months later, while less need for physical assistance predicted lower complicated grief at follow-up. Clinical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Prolonged grief symptomatology following violent loss: the mediating role of meaning

“…Violent bereavement is over-represented in marginalized sociodemographic populations, indicating the need for violent loss interventions to incorporate sources of resilience present in these populations (Bottomley, Burke, & Neimeyer, 2015; McDevitt-Murphy et al, 2012; Milman, Rheingold, Williams, & Bountress, in press). Meaning-oriented protocols make it possible to take advantage of such population-specific resiliency factors by exploring diverse sources of meaning (Neimeyer, 2016; Neimeyer et al, in press), including spirituality (Doka, 2012; Pearce & Smigelsky, 2015), artistic endeavours (Thompson & Neimeyer, 2014), family (Hooghe & Neimeyer, 2013), community (Murphy & Neimeyer, 2014; Smigelsky et al, 2016), and legacy work commemorating the deceased (Hochberg, 2012).…”

A systematic review of studies describing the influence of informal social support on psychological wellbeing in people bereaved by sudden or violent causes of death

“…In the longitudinal study [31], one (satisfaction with physical assistance) out of twelve measured social support variables predicted lower symptom severity. One other high risk of bias study [32] found a partial positive association, with only one (percentage of actual negative relationships) of out six social support variables correlated with lower symptom severity.…”

“…There was limited evidence that social support was associated with reduced risk of meeting the threshold for depression diagnosis or reduced depression symptom severity, with seven studies [28,31,32,34,35,44,45] measuring this outcome. The single longitudinal study [31] included in this review had a medium risk of bias and was exploratory in nature, but did control for baseline outcome measures. This study found no association between the two variables.…”

A systematic review of studies describing the influence of informal social support on psychological wellbeing in people bereaved by sudden or violent causes of death

“…Of the 15 samples included (Table 1), nine sampled populations in North America [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32], two in China [33,34] two in Israel [35,36], one in Colombia [37] and one in Norway [38]. The earliest study was published in 1985 and the most recent in 2019.…”

“…Participant groups were defined as those bereaved by natural disasters (four studies), homicide (four studies), suicide (four studies), accidental death (two studies) or armed conflict (one study). One study was longitudinal in design (27), and measured outcomes six months after baseline measurement (at a mean of 1.66 years postloss). Another study (25) followed-up a sample described in an included cross-sectional analysis [24] but reported different measures, so was essentially a separate cross-sectional analysis and not comparable.…”