IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v21y2024i7p915-d1434551.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effect of Life Stages on the Experience of Those Who Have Received an Unexpected and Violent Death Notification: A Qualitative Study

Author

Listed:
  • Diego De Leo

    (Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention, Griffith University, Mt Gravatt, QLD 4122, Australia
    Slovene Centre for Suicide Research, Primorska University, 6000 Koper, Slovenia
    De Leo Fund, Research Division, 35137 Padua, Italy
    Italian Psychogeriatric Association, 35137 Padua, Italy)

  • Andrea Viecelli Giannotti

    (De Leo Fund, Research Division, 35137 Padua, Italy)

  • Nicola Meda

    (De Leo Fund, Research Division, 35137 Padua, Italy
    Department of Neuroscience, University of Padova, 35121 Padua, Italy)

  • Martina Sorce

    (Italian Psychogeriatric Association, 35137 Padua, Italy)

  • Josephine Zammarrelli

    (De Leo Fund, Research Division, 35137 Padua, Italy)

Abstract

Background: How individuals are informed of the traumatic loss of a loved one can influence their grieving process and quality of life. Objective: This qualitative study aimed to explore, through thematic analysis, how life stages might influence the experience and feelings of those who have received communication of a traumatic death from police officers or healthcare professionals. Method: Recruited through social networks and word of mouth, 30 people participated in the study. Subjects were divided into three groups according to age (Group 1: ten participants aged between 20 and 35 years; Group 2: ten participants aged between 45 and 55 years; and Group 3: ten participants aged 60 and over). Participants completed an ad hoc questionnaire online. Atlas.ti software 8 was used to perform thematic analysis. Results: The three age groups had the following four key themes in common: (a) emotional reactions; (b) subjective valuation of the notification; (c) support; and (d) needs. Subtle differences emerged between age groups; yet the quality of the reactions and main themes did not vary greatly between the groups considered. Conclusions: The communication of an unexpected and violent death seems to provoke rather similar effects in survivors of different life stages. A few differences were noted in sub-themes (increased need for professional training in younger recipients; absence of suicidal ideation in older adults); perhaps quantitative designs could provide further details in future investigations.

Suggested Citation

  • Diego De Leo & Andrea Viecelli Giannotti & Nicola Meda & Martina Sorce & Josephine Zammarrelli, 2024. "The Effect of Life Stages on the Experience of Those Who Have Received an Unexpected and Violent Death Notification: A Qualitative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(7), pages 1-10, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:7:p:915-:d:1434551
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/7/915/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/7/915/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Diego De Leo & Annalisa Guarino & Benedetta Congregalli & Josephine Zammarrelli & Anna Valle & Stefano Paoloni & Sabrina Cipolletta, 2022. "Receiving Notification of Unexpected and Violent Death: A Qualitative Study of Italian Survivors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-15, August.
    2. Diego De Leo & Benedetta Congregalli & Annalisa Guarino & Josephine Zammarrelli & Anna Valle & Stefano Paoloni & Sabrina Cipolletta, 2022. "Communicating Unexpected and Violent Death: The Experiences of Police Officers and Health Care Professionals," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-14, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Diego De Leo & Josephine Zammarrelli & Giulia Marinato & Marta Capelli & Andrea Viecelli Giannotti, 2023. "Best Practices for Notification of Unexpected, Violent, and Traumatic Death: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(13), pages 1-25, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:7:p:915-:d:1434551. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.