Death notification on sense-making and grief responses for bereaved college students

Scholars have proposed that the manner of death notification may play an integral role in the grief processes of bereaved individuals and in the meaning they derive from a death; however, no scholars have previously empirically investigated the specific elements of death notification and the possible associations between these elements and sense-making in grief and grief responses. The purpose of this study was to examine the current practice-based death notification recommendations with a sample of individuals who were notified of a death loss while attending college. Data were collected from 205 traditional-age (i.e., 18-23 years old) undergraduate students at a large Midwestern university and was analyzed using MANOVA, MANCOVA, and structural equation modeling (SEM). The results suggested that the manner of death notification was positively associated with sense-making in grief and was not associated with grief responses; however, the mode of notification (i.e., in-person, telephone, other technology) was not associated with either sense-making in grief or grief responses. Consistent with past research, the results also suggested that the unsettling nature of the death and emotional closeness with the deceased were negatively associated with sense-making in grief and positively associated with grief responses. Furthermore, the results indicated that sense-making in grief and grief responses were negatively associated with each other and that the association between the unsettling nature of the death and grief responses was fully mediated through sense-making in grief. Overall, the results of this study suggested that the current practice-based recommendations for death notification are warranted and that although a number of seemingly static variables (e.g., violence of the death, relationship to the deceased) exist that are likely connected with the grief responses of bereaved individuals, effective death notifications can contribute to bereaved individuals\u27 efforts to make sense of a death loss