Needs Assessment for Bereaved Families

Assessment of Families Who Have Undergone the Traumatic Loss of a Child Study Protocol

The present study will focus on several objectives in the framework of the family perspective and systemic understanding of the mourning process:

1. Identification of the psychological, social and practical needs of families that have lost a child to terrorism.
2. Deepening and extending the knowledge of how families cope with the loss of a child in a violent incident of a security-related nature.
3. Identification of risk and resilience factors within the family structure, and the nature of the relationships within the family.

The University of Al-Quds in East Jerusalem will be conducting an identical study in conjunction with this one, examining Palestinian families who have lost a child in the conflict with Israel. Collaboration between these studies will allow a cross-cultural comparison of family coping with traumatic loss, and of the identification of resilience and risk factors among the families.

Method of the study Participants. The assessment process will include some twenty-five Israeli families who have lost a son or daughter below the age of 18 as a result of a terrorist incident, at least six months previously. All family members living at home will participate in the study. The study will not include single-parent families, or family members who suffer from mental retardation, disturbances because of addiction, or psychiatric disturbance from the psychotic or autistic spectra (schizophrenia, manic-depressive illness, psychotic disturbances, PDD).