Table 2.
Study characteristics.
| Authors | Type of study | Country | Ethnicity/religion | Sample | Marital status | Type of death | Age of child | Time since death | Measures |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bogensperger and Lueger-Schuster (2014) | Mixed methods | Austria | Not reported | 30 Female (21) Male (9) |
Married (66.7%) Divorced (13.3%) Single (6.7%) Other (13.3%) |
Illness (50%) Accident (30%) Suicide (16.7%) Homicide (3.3%) |
M = 10.2 years (years) SD = 9.4 Range = 4 days–40 years |
M = 9.73 years SD = 7.8 Range = 1–26. |
Interviews. Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI). Complicated grief module. |
| Brabant, Forsyth, and McFarlain (1997) | Qualitative | USA (USA) | Not reported | 14 Female (8) Male (6) |
Not reported | Accidents (6) Illness (3) Surgery (1) |
Range = 1–29 years Mean = 12 |
Range 1–8 years Mean = 5 years |
Interviews |
| Buchi et al. (2007) | Quantative | Switzer-land | Not reported | 54 Female (27) Male (27) |
Married (100%) | Neonatal death | Not reported | Not reported | Munich Grief Scale. PTGI. Pictorial Representation of Illness and Self-Measure (PRISM). Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). |
| Engelkemeyer and Marwit (2008) | Quantative | USA | Caucasian (97%) Christian (52%) Catholic (27%) Jewish (7%) Other (14%) |
111 Gender not reported |
Married (72%) Widowed (10%) Divorced (15%) Single (3%) |
Homicide (41) Accident (35) Illness (35) |
M = 15 years SD = 7.5 |
Range = 1–372 months (months) Mean = 84.3 months SD = 89.9 months |
PTGI. World Assumptions Scale. Revised Grief Experiences Inventory. |
| Gerrish and Bailey (2012) | Case study | Not reported | Not reported | 1 Female | Married | Leukaemia | Not reported | 6 years | Biographical Grid Method (BGM). |
| Gerrish et al. (2010) | Case studies | Not reported | Caucasian (100%) | 2 Females | Married (100%) | Cancer | 9 & 22 years | 7 years & 5 years | BGM. HGRC. |
| Gerrish et al. (2014) | Mixed methods | Not reported | Caucasian (100%) | 13 Females | Married (11) Separated (1) Widowed (1) |
Cancer | Range 2–35 years M = 14.8 |
M = 4.5 years Range = 0.80–9.3 |
Interviews. BGM. Hogan Grief Reaction Checklist (HGRC). PTGI. |
| Jenewein et al. (2008) | Quantative | Switzer-land | Not reported | 92 Female (48) Male (44) |
Not reported | Neonatal death | Not reported | Not reported | HADS. PTGI. Bayley Scales of Infant Development |
| Moore et al. (2015) | Quantative | USA | Not reported | 154 Female (137) Male (17) |
Married (65.1%) Divorced (24.3%) Never married (3.3%) Widowed (3.9%) Other (3.3%) |
Death by suicide | Not reported | Not reported | PTGI. The Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R). Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Five Factor Inventory. Positive and Negative Affect Schedule. Prolonged grief disorders measure. Ruminative Response Scale. Resilience scale. |
| Parappully et al. (2002) | Qualitative | USA | Caucasian (12) Hispanic (2) African American (1) Russian (1) |
16 Female (13) Male (3) |
Other (12) Divorced (4) |
Murder | Range: 7–41 years Median: 21 years |
Range = 15 months–23years Median = 6 years |
Semi-structured interviews. |
| Polatinsky and Esprey (2000) | Quantative | South Africa | Caucasian (100%) | 67 Female (49) Male (18) |
Married (73%) Divorced (13%) Single (4%) Widowed (10%) |
Motor accidents (38%) Suicide (42%) Homicide (11%) Illness (5%) Other (4%) |
Not reported | Range = 6months–8 years | Contextual information about the death. PTGI |
| Reilly et al. (2008) | Qualitative | UK | English (7) Scottish (1) Welsh (1) |
9 Female | Not reported | Illness (8) Feeding complication (1) |
Range = 23months–18 years M = 10.64 SD = 2.79 |
M = 4.2 years. Range = 10 months–10 years SD = 2.79 |
Semi-structured interviews |
| Riley et al. (2007) | Quantative | USA | Caucasian (92%) | 35 Female | Married (90%) | Accident (58%) Neonatal death (12.5%) |
M = 12 years | M = 15.7 months SD = 8.4 | LOT-R. Dispositional version of the COPE. Inventory of Social Support. HGRC with growth subscale. Inventory of Complicated Grief. PTGI. |