Social support following bereavement: The role of beliefs, expectations, and support intentions

ABSTRACT

Social support is one of the strongest determinants of bereavement outcomes, yet little is understood about the community’s recognition of grief and intentions to provide social support to grieving persons. A total of 476 adults responded to an online vignette and questionnaire measuring grief norms and supportive intentions. Respondent gender, age, and bereavement status all had some association with expectations of grief, intentions to support, perceived helpfulness of support attempts, and opinions toward the diagnostic classification of grief. Given that most bereavement support is informal, this study informs the development of community capacity to provide constructive, timely bereavement support.

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Ishta White for her assistance with the initial coding of qualitative responses.

Additional information

Funding

Emma L. Logan is supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship and Lauren J. Breen is supported by the Australian Research Council (DE120101640). No other competing financial interests exist.