Psychological tasks for bereaved children.

Abstract

The grief process in bereaved children is conceptualized as a series of psychological tasks that must be accomplished over time. Early tasks include understanding and self-protection; middle-phase tasks include acceptance and reworking; late tasks pertain to identification and development. This timing model has practical implications for the conduct of psychotherapy at different times during the grief process.

The Effects of Negative Legacies on the Adjustment of Parentally Bereaved Children and Adolescents

“…Children's changing ability to understand their relationship with their parent, given their age at the time of the death and the way they mature, will certainly influence what they remember, what they incorporate, and how they understand this process (Baker, Sedney, & Gross, 1992;Christ, 2000;Silverman, 2000a). Children's ability to reflect on their experience and reactions is an indicator of where they are developmentally (Kegan, 1982;Silverman, 2000a).…”

Death and Dying in the Curriculum of Public Schools: Is there a place?

“…Today families and school personnel as Baker, Sedney & Gross (1992) mention, have to help children, even young children, deal with death and grief on a far too regular basis. Gordon and Klass (1979) made sound argument for teaching the basic facts about death and dying in the school system.…”

Two homes that used to be one: What has grief got to do with it?

“…He argued for a model that was both flexible and circular, encapsulating a 're-64 visiting' of losses, however his (adult based) model lacks an articulation of developmental considerations, which is imperative in assisting adults to make sense of what we witness in children's grief responses (Goldman, 2014). No further phase model has been put forward since Bowlby's (1961) early work, which would potentially extend our understanding of the underlying process involved in children's grief, begun by Bowlby's work (Oltjenbruns, 2001) and assist in the understanding of how grief is taking place.Both Fox (1988) and Baker et al (1992), drawing on Furman (1985) have their own strengths, although the former two have been applied to bereaved populations of children.Overall, the characteristics of children's grieving, noted in this chapter, are not fully accounted for by any one of these models, particularly the patterning of children's grieving that is described as bursts of grieving followed by periods of normality. …”

“…Some grief theorists proposed that their models were applicable to children's experiences as much as adult experiences, provided allowance was made for developmental stages (Worden, 2009). These claims were made without specific explanation of how developmental considerations should be included.There are task-based models developed specifically for children with consideration of their unique cognitive and emotional capacity (e.g., Baker, Sedney & Gross, 1992;Furman, 1974).However, none provide a compelling framework to understand the nature of children's responses to grief. …”

“…Tasks of grieving, they argued, provide a clear focus for understanding where a child might be failing to move through their grieving and how to facilitate their moving forward. Baker et al, (1992) propose that their model encapsulates three phases, as well as specific tasks and therefore has the strengths of both types of models. However, the use of the word 'process' in their writing seems to be about sequencing of early, middle and later stages, rather than explicit explanation of how grief is unfolding.…”