Sense Making

Sense-Making, Grief and the Experience of Violent Loss:

An Evaluation of the Study

We all have a perception of what death is. We use the word for anything that stops functioning totally. We use it for plants, cars and electronics. So, when u consider a human being, we say the same thing, the person is dead. Now, there are many types of death. Some of which that come to mind are Natural death and a violent death. Most of our understanding toward a person death can be very confusing and vague. We can argue that last statement for any natural cause of death but what about any violent loss. Bereavement followed by a violent loss can be a barrier for those in grief. They have to cross a lot of hurdles to carry on their life. This in psychological term is called complicated grief (CG), a form of bereavement marked by elevated and persistent

separation distress, seriously impaired functioning, and difficulties'' moving on'' with life following the loss of a loved one. Imagine how different the grief can be if the person can have a sense of the bereavement. This is the central idea towards this study. "Sense making", or the formulation of the central role of a subjective understanding of the loss in the restoration process (Currier, Joseph M., Holland, Jason M. and Neimeyer, Robert A. 2006). So, this model explains the relationship between an objective mode of death and complicated grief using "sense making" as major transitional factor towards an easy bereavement process.

Previous Studies in Bereavement

Previously done empirical studies has shown that a purposeful cause of death has an unforgettable hold on a person who is in the grief process. This hold will definitely carry on into the outside world and post a potential danger to their actions. The inability to get an understanding for the loss can also lead to complicated grief but just the opposite can be said if there is the ability or even a small understanding the loss brings out positive period for the person in grief. Previous studies have also showed many psychological disorders tend to appear following the bereavement of person loss. Many of which can be lead to having Post-traumatic Stress disorder (PTSD), leading to believe that they don't have a clear sense of the loss. Such research was conducted a five year longitudinal study with 171 parents who lost their children in a violent death with almost 50% of them answering that they have been having had a experience of hardship at the end of the study (Murphy, S. A., Johnson, C. L., Chung, I. J., & Beaton, R. D. (2003). Depression, Complicated Grief, Insomnia are some of many problems that researcher have provided to be a problem that bereavement brings to that particular person. The study done will try to provide any type of insight as to whether "sense making" can reduce symptoms of a disorder or grief that the person feels.

Broadening "Sense making"

Previous research findings have also supported this article in that making sense was one of the major differences when u compared violent loss to natural loss. One such study done by the same authors of this study reported that, people who reported their loss as something of a violent situation had a very tough time in coping with the situation. A study with nearly 500 participants proved this theory. The results of this study showed that people with the violent loss scored an average (.79) standard deviation lower than those that have a natural cause of death. Many other studies regarding a violent loss and the inability to find a sense of the loss has had a tough time to bereave.

The main aim of the study

The main aim of this study is to support that of a complicated grief that follows a violent loss is better taken when the person is able to make sense of the situation. The role of "sense making" is tested in this article. There are four medical hypothesis tested to show that it has an effect on the complicated grief: 1. violent and natural anticapated losses, 2. Violent and natural sudden losses, 3. Homicide and suicide vs. accident, 4. Homicide vs. Suicide. So the study will also try to provide which kind of the violent death has the easiest sense making.

Methods

Participants

The study had 1,056 participants from an undergraduate introductory to psychology course. The sample covered the age of 18 to 53. Each had to have a significant loss of a loved one within a 24 month period. Women made up to 75% of the sample. 56% were Caucasian. 38.4% African American, 1.5% Asian American and 4% of others. Almost 704 person of the death were of natural cause of death and other 352 people were of violent death. Of these about 92 people reported as being intimate with the lost one, 628 were of family, 221 reported as a good friend and 70 with an acquaintance, 30 reported of barely knowing the person and 16 of which did not report the relationship

Procedures

This was a Cross-Sectional study. Each participant had to complete a questionnaire from the inventory of Complicated Grief(ICG). Then, they had to answer as single question about the sense making question. Such?). Other things regarding their race, religion, gender, as well as the nature of the death and relationship with the deceased. The ICG contains questions regarding the after impact of how the person has been feeling about the dead, with a scale of 1-5 (1 being never and 5 being always). Then there was a single assessment question on the sense making question, and it read like this "How much sense would you say you have made of the loss?" with the scale of 1= no sense to

4 = a good deal of sense.

Measures

The ICG contains 30 statements regarding the after periods of the death of the person. Some statements: "I feel like I have become numb since the death of (the deceased)" , "Ever since (the deceased) died I feel like I have lost the ability to care about other people or I fell distant from people I care about". The scale ranges from 1-5 (1 being never to 5 equaling always). Then, there is a single question at the end asking the sense making model, "How much sense would you say you have made of the loss?" The scale ranges from 1-4 (1 being no sense and 4 being a good deal of sense). The demographic data were collected to provide more information about the subjects. The women in our society are perceived to show more emotion to a tragedy than men would.

Analytic