Intervention for the bereaved: Gender differences in the efficacy of grief counselling

Abstract

This artide describesa n investigationo f emotion-focusedv ersusp roblem-focused intervention for widows (N = 23) and widowers (N = 23) who were suffecing devated levels of distress 11 months after their loss. They were randomly assigned to art intervention condition and improvement (on the General Health Questionnaire) was compared with non-intervention controls (N = 59). Two alternative hypotheses were considered: (1) men, since they focus less on their emotions, would benefit fIom problem-focused counselling, while women, focusing more on their emotions, would benefit fIom emotion-focused intervention; (2) each gender,h aving been comparativelyu nsuccessfuiln coping throUgh these usual strategies, would benefit more fIom intervention directed towards the less familiar strategy. Results supported the second hypothesis: widowers benefited more fIom emotion-focused,w idows fIom problem-focused interventions. Implications for supporting widows and widowers are discussed