Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 3, 2026
04:36
Setup and Execution of the Rapid Cycle Deliberate Practice Death Notification Curriculum
Published on: August 5, 2020
4.0K
College students' beliefs about supporting a grieving peer.
Sara J Tedrick Parikh1, Heather L Servaty-Seib1
1Department of Educational Studies, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA.
Death Studies
|February 14, 2014
Summary
College students believe listening supportively to a grieving friend has benefits and risks for both individuals. They also identified necessary conditions, like time and a quiet space, for effective supportive listening.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Communication Studies
Background:
- Understanding supportive communication is crucial for mental health.
- Grief is a complex emotional response requiring social support.
- The Theory of Planned Behavior provides a framework for studying behavioral intentions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore college students' beliefs regarding supportive listening to a grieving friend.
- To investigate perceived benefits and risks associated with supportive listening.
- To identify perceived requirements for effectively listening to a grieving friend.
Main Methods:
- Utilized I. Ajzen's (1991) Theory of Planned Behavior (TBP).
- Collected data through open-ended questions from college students (N = 23).
- Analyzed qualitative responses to identify themes in beliefs, benefits, risks, and requirements.
Main Results:
- Students perceived both advantages and disadvantages of supportive listening for the griever and themselves.
- Identified key requirements for supportive listening, including time, a conducive environment, and prior grief experience.
- Beliefs were explored through the lens of the Theory of Planned Behavior.
Conclusions:
- College students possess nuanced beliefs about supportive listening to grieving peers.
- Perceived benefits, risks, and requirements influence intentions to provide support.
- Findings highlight the importance of practical considerations in offering grief support.
Related Concept Videos
01:17Bonanno's Theory of Grieving
1.5K
Grieving is a complex psychological and emotional process that varies significantly among individuals. George Bonanno's research on bereavement identified four distinct patterns of grieving, offering a nuanced understanding of how people cope with significant loss, such as the death of a spouse, over extended periods. These patterns — resilience, recovery, chronic dysfunction, and delayed grief — highlight the diversity in emotional responses and adaptive mechanisms.
Resilience
Resilience
1.5K
01:20Coping Strategies: Emotion Focused
895
Emotion-focused coping refers to a set of strategies aimed at managing the emotional impact of stressors, rather than directly addressing their causes. This approach involves altering one's emotional response to stressful situations to reduce their psychological effects. For example, individuals might talk with a friend or engage in activities like journaling to express their feelings. Such actions can help achieve emotional clarity or release, providing the psychological stability needed...
895
01:21Kubler Ross's Stages of Dying
2.1K
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross significantly advanced psychology's understanding of the process of dying with her influential book, On Death and Dying (1969). She focused on studying terminally ill individuals and outlined five stages commonly experienced when coping with death: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
In denial, individuals reject the reality of their condition, often thinking, "This isn't true; I feel fine," as a way to protect themselves from...
In denial, individuals reject the reality of their condition, often thinking, "This isn't true; I feel fine," as a way to protect themselves from...
2.1K
01:27Coping Strategies: Problem Focused
796
Coping strategies are methods people use to manage, tolerate, or reduce the effects of stressors. These strategies involve both behavioral and psychological actions to handle stressful situations. One common approach is problem-focused coping, which aims to change or eliminate the source of stress rather than merely addressing its consequences. This method involves taking direct action to resolve the issue causing stress.
For example, consider a student who struggles to understand their...
For example, consider a student who struggles to understand their...
796
01:38Cognitive Dissonance
29.1K
Social psychologists have documented that feeling good about ourselves and maintaining positive self-esteem is a powerful motivator of human behavior (Tavris & Aronson, 2008). In the United States, members of the predominant culture typically think very highly of themselves and view themselves as good people who are above average on many desirable traits (Ehrlinger, Gilovich, & Ross, 2005). Often, our behavior, attitudes, and beliefs are affected when we experience a threat to our...
29.1K
01:15Techniques of therapeutic communication I: Active Listening, Sharing Observations, Validation, and Using Touch
8.0K
The history of therapeutic communication can be traced back to Florence Nightingale, who emphasized the importance of developing trusting relationships with patients. She taught that the presence of nurses with patients results in therapeutic healing.
Therapeutic communication is not the same as social interaction. Social interaction has no goal or purpose and consists of casual information sharing, whereas therapeutic communication has a plan or purpose for the conversation. Therapeutic...
Therapeutic communication is not the same as social interaction. Social interaction has no goal or purpose and consists of casual information sharing, whereas therapeutic communication has a plan or purpose for the conversation. Therapeutic...
8.0K