Date of Award

4-1988

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology

First Advisor

Dr. Robert M. Oswald

Second Advisor

Dr. John Geisler

Third Advisor

Dr. Robert M. Brashear

Fourth Advisor

Dr. David J. Cowden

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the effect of providing information about the grief process and a supportive environment of peers on depression in recently bereaved spouses.

The treatment intervention consisted of the Bereavement Support Seminar, which provided didactic material relating to the normal aspects of the grief process with emphasis on dealing with anger, guilt and progressive growth while allowing for feelings and memories to be vented and supported.

The subjects were divided into two groups: experimental (those who were involved in the 4-week Bereavement Support Seminar) and control (those who received no intervention). The experimental group contained 25 persons and the control contained 37 persons, which represented subjects studied in Michigan and Pennsylvania and then combined for hypothesis testing.

The approach of the investigation involved administering a pre- and posttest of Kincannon's Mini-Mult Short Form of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory to all study participants with evaluation of Scale 2 (Depression).

Data was analyzed by use of a nondirectional two-tailed t test for independent means between the experimental control groups, and pretest-posttest comparisons were analyzed by means of a correlated sample t test, both at the.05 alpha level.

It was concluded that there was not a significant difference in the depression level of the experimental group as compared with the control group.

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Dissertation-Open Access

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