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Spirituality and religious coping are related to cancer-bereaved siblings’ long-term grief

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2017

Malin Lövgren ,
Josefin Sveen ,
Gunnar Steineck ,
Alexandra Eilegård Wallin ,
Mary-Elizabeth B. Eilertsen  and
Ulrika Kreicbergs
Malin Lövgren*
Affiliation:
The Department of Caring Sciences, Ersta Sköndal Bräcke University College, Palliative Research Centre, Stockholm, Sweden The Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
Josefin Sveen
Affiliation:
The Department of Caring Sciences, Ersta Sköndal Bräcke University College, Palliative Research Centre, Stockholm, Sweden
Gunnar Steineck
Affiliation:
The Department of Oncology-Pathology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden The Department of Oncology, The Sahlgrenska Academy, Gothenburg, Sweden
Alexandra Eilegård Wallin
Affiliation:
School of Education, Health and Society, Dalarna University, Falun, Sweden
Mary-Elizabeth B. Eilertsen
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Department of Public Health and Nursing, Norwegian University of Technology and Science, Center for Health Promotion Research, Trondheim, Norway
Ulrika Kreicbergs
Affiliation:
The Department of Caring Sciences, Ersta Sköndal Bräcke University College, Palliative Research Centre, Stockholm, Sweden The Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
*
Author for correspondence: Malin Lövgren, Ersta Sköndal Bräcke University College, The Department of Caring Science, Palliative Research Centre, Stigbergsgatan 30, Box 111 89, 100 61 Stockholm, Sweden. E-mail: [email protected].
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Abstract

Objective

Many bereaved siblings have still not come to terms with their grief many years after the loss, but few studies have focused on what can help. The aims of this study were to identify cancer-bereaved adolescents’ and young adults’ ways of coping with grief after loss of a sibling, and examine whether these ways of coping were related to their experience of having worked through their grief.

Method

This nationwide survey of 174 cancer-bereaved siblings (73% participation rate) is based on one open-ended question about coping with grief (“What has helped you to cope with your grief after your sibling's death?”) and one closed-ended question about siblings’ long-term grief (“Do you think you have worked through your grief over your sibling's death?”). The open-ended question was analyzed with content analysis; descriptive statistics and Fisher's exact test were used to examine the relation between type of coping and siblings’ long-term grief.

Result

The siblings described four ways of coping: (1) thinking of their dead brother/sister and feeling and expressing their grief; (2) distracting or occupying themselves; (3) engaging in spiritual and religious beliefs/activities; and (4) waiting for time to pass. One of these categories of coping with grief, namely, engaging in spiritual and religious beliefs and activities, was associated with siblings’ experience of having worked through their grief two to nine years after the loss (p = 0.016).

Significance of results

Those siblings who had used spirituality, religious beliefs, and activities to cope were more likely to have worked through their grief than those who had not.

Keywords

Childhood cancercopingbereavementsiblings
Type
Original Article
Information
Palliative & Supportive Care , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , April 2019 , pp. 138 - 142
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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