Peer support for bereaved children: Setting eyes on children’s views through an educational action research project

ABSTRACT

This article investigates children’s views on providing peer support to bereaved children. The data (pre- and postinterviews and written documents) come from an action research study of a teacher–researcher and her 16 children aged 10–11 years old. Analysis of the data shows children’s ideas on supporting a bereaved child and how this support should be provided, taking into consideration various factors such as the relationship with the bereaved and the role of memories. The paper emphasizes that children should have structured opportunities across the whole-school curriculum to learn how loss affects people’s lives to support themselves and others.

Acknowledgment

We thank the students who agreed to participate in this study and their parents who gave consent to do so. We are also immensely grateful to the head teacher of the school for his support and enthusiasm as well as to our colleague Dr Anna Nicolaou for her contribution to the study as a critical friend. We finally express our gratitude to Dr Lauren Jennifer Breen, Editor of Death Studies, for her valuable comments on previous drafts of this article.

Notes

¹In the Greek language—the means of communication between students and teacher in the context of the present study—the word penthos (πένθος) is an exclusive term to express bereavement, grief, and mourning altogether. This term signifies different meanings such as the deep sorrow and pain as a result of the death of a loved one, the time period of the mourning process according to one’s culture, as well as the external signs that indicate bereavement such as wearing black clothes (Babiniotis, 2008). Therefore, in this article, the terms bereaved, griever, and mourner are used interchangeably.

²Although a large part of the intervention was not directly connected to forms of peer support, we assume that these topics (definition of penthos, relevant emotions, factors that might affect bereavement, etc.) have impacted the children’s ideas of peer support. Due to article length restrictions, this impact is not addressed in the results in a detailed manner; however, it can be found in Stylianou & Zembylas (2016).