ERIC Number: ED634829
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 96
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: 979-8-3795-4731-8
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Virtual Grief Response: A Critical Review of the Literature on Suicide Postvention in Schools
Dieckhoff, Laura A.
ProQuest LLC, D.Psych. Dissertation, Adelphi University
In the wake of suicide, school preparedness is an essential component of postvention crisis response. Professional organizations, relying on the recommendations of researchers and practitioners, have developed helpful guides, such as "After a Suicide: A Toolkit for Schools," and the "PREPaRE School Crisis Prevention and Intervention Training Curriculum," which are evidence-based and adequately address suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention within schools. These frameworks have consistently served as reliable resources for school districts to utilize when faced with a crisis as they are comprehensive and methodically updated by experts in the field of suicidology and school crisis preparedness. However, the development of these best practice recommendations occurred prior to the COVID-19 pandemic at a time when schools' suicide postvention protocols did not typically incorporate virtual interventions. In a post-COVID world, procedural guidelines on suicide postvention no longer reflect the technological literacy abilities and capabilities of our current youth. They do not reach those students who are educated at home, attending alternative programs, are absent due to illness or disability, and they do not provide virtual assistance to parents in need of psychoeducation. In order to determine the empirical support for virtual suicide postvention procedures, I conducted a critical review of the literature examining the effectiveness of school-provided online support for students and parents in the aftermath of a suicide. While literature is devoid of scholarship devoted specifically to virtual school-based postvention, studies regarding youth preferences and patterns of help-seeking behavior (n = 8) support the use of providing support via a virtual modality. In addition, articles related to the provision of psychoeducation and support to parents (n = 7) revealed that increased access and participation may be achieved through the use of an online format. The addition of virtual grief procedures will allow schools to disseminate postvention response protocols quickly, accurately, and reliably to all school community members and grieving families. Virtual accessibility will allow students to reflect on the loss of their classmate in a more comfortable, familiar, and socially suitable atmosphere and enable parents' opportunity for communication and psychoeducation after a peer suicide. Updating crisis response protocols to incorporate Virtual Grief Rooms (VGRs) and Virtual Parent Meets (VPMs) to suicide postvention protocols can better engage a school community in crisis and decrease the negative impact a suicide can have on anxiety, depression, and contagion among students. Recommended updates to suicide postvention practices espoused by professional organizations are provided. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
Descriptors: Suicide, Parents, Students, Grief, Intervention, Crisis Management, Best Practices, Computer Mediated Communication, Social Support Groups, Help Seeking, Student Behavior, Preferences, Access to Education, Participation
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Publication Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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