Rewriting grief following bereavement and non-death loss: a pilot writing-for-wellbeing study

ABSTRACT

This mixed-method Writing-for-wellbeing pilot study used a pre–post-follow-up design with 20 adults in two groups (10 in a bereaved group and 10 in a non-death/living losses group) to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and potential efficacy of a longitudinal writing intervention in helping participants to work through their grief. Participants completed measures of prolonged grief, adaptive coping, anxiety and depression, and meaning reconstruction. The qualitative analysis was based on a satisfaction questionnaire that included open-ended questions. The intervention was well-received, safe, and personally valuable. The bereaved group reported reductions in symptoms of anxiety, depression, and prolonged grief, and increases in adaptive meaning, help seeking, and spiritual support. The living losses group reported a decrease in help seeking.

KEYWORDS:

• Grief
• writing-for-wellbeing
• therapeutic writing
• bereavement
• non-death losses
• meaning-making

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge grant support from Lotterywest, the West Australian Lotteries Commission. We also extend our gratitude to the Grief Centre of Western Australia, without whose support this research project could not have been realised. We offer our sincerest gratitude to the participants who so generously gave of their time and experiences to participate in this research, and without whom this research project would not have been possible. We also would like to thank the two volunteers who supported the study, Lachlan Toms and Ida Marais.

Disclosure statement

Katrin Den Elzen is affiliated with the Grief Centre of Western Australia. No other interests are declared.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, [K.D.E.]. The data are not publicly available due to requirements of the Curtin Human Research Ethics Committee (e.g. their containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants).

Clinical trial registration

ACTRN12622001384741.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Lotterywest, the Lotteries Commission of Western Australia.

Notes on contributors

Katrin Den Elzen

Katrin Den Elzen, PhD, is a research associate in the School of School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry, Curtin University, Perth, Australia and a guest lecturer for therapeutic writing for graduate students in counselling at Murdoch University, Perth. She works as a grief counsellor and Writing-for-wellbeing facilitator. As a component of her doctorate in creative writing, Katrin has written a grief memoir entitled My Decision about her experiences as young widow. She has been widely published, including in the British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, The Journal of Constructivist Psychology, Life Writing, TEXT, The European Journal of Life Writing, and LIRIC. Katrin is a member of The Lapidus International Research Community.

Lauren J. Breen

Lauren J. Breen is a Professor in psychology at Curtin University, Australia, and a Registered Psychologist. Her research centres on issues of grief and loss across the lifespan, for families and communities, and for health and social care professionals. She is a Fellow in Thanatology: Death, Dying and Bereavement. She is a member of the International Work Group on Death, Dying and Bereavement; a Board Member of the Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement and of Lionheart Camps for Kids; and Managing Editor of Death Studies.

Robert A. Neimeyer

Robert A. Neimeyer, PhD, is a Professor Emeritus of the Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, and maintains an active consulting and coaching practice. He also directs the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition (www.portlandinstitute.org), which provides online training internationally in grief therapy. Neimeyer has published 33 books, including New Techniques of Grief Therapy: Bereavement and Beyond, and serves as Editor of the journal Death Studies. The author of over 500 articles and book chapters and a frequent workshop presenter, he is currently working to advance a more adequate theory of grieving as a meaning-making process. Neimeyer served as President of the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC) and Chair of the International Work Group for Death, Dying, & Bereavement. In recognition of his scholarly contributions, he has been granted the Eminent Faculty Award by the University of Memphis, made a Fellow of the Clinical Psychology Division of the American Psychological Association, and given Lifetime Achievement Awards by both ADEC and the International Network on Personal Meaning.