Effects of Satisfaction with Social Support on Complicated Grief in Bereaved Dementia Caregivers

Article information

Korean J Health Promot. 2014;14(2):43-49

Publication date (electronic) : 2014 January 20

doi : https://doi.org/10.15384/kjhp.2014.14.2.43

¹Hallym University Institute of Aging, Chuncheon, Korea

²Department of Social Welfare, Graduate School of Hallym University, Chuncheon, Korea

￭ Corresponding author：Dhawoon Hyun, MSW Department of Social Welfare, Graduate School of Hallym University, 1 Hallymdaehak-gil, Chuncheon 200-702, Korea Tel: +82-10-5797-1957, Fax: +82-33-248-3095 E-mail: tree333h@hanmail.net

Received 2013 December 02; Accepted 2014 June 10.

Abstract

Background

While complicated grief can lead to adverse health outcomes, social support has been shown to be an important protective factor of its negative effects. The present study investigated the relationship between social support including satisfaction with support, received support, and negative interactions and complicated grief in the transitional context from caregiving to bereavement.

Methods

Bereaved caregivers (n=221) who participated in a multi-site study of dementia caregiving were assessed for complicated grief. Social support measured before and after death were used to examine the longitudinal associations among social support and complicated grief.

Results

We found that caregivers reporting greater increase in satisfaction with social support were likely to experience lower levels of complicated grief, while the amount of received social support did not significantly impact complicated grief. Negative social interaction was significantly associated with the level of complicated grief after the death of the care recipient.

Conclusions

The relationship between social support and complicated grief suggests that satisfaction with social support may be associated with lower levels of complicated grief. Study findings point to the importance of the type of social support for reducing the level of complicated grief.

Keywords: Complicated grief; Social support; Bereavement

Table 1.

Demographic characteristics, social support, and caregiving characteristics

Table 2.

Correlations for complicated grief and social support constructs^a

Table 3.

Regression results on relationships between satisfaction with social support and complicated grief^a

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