Social Support for the Bereaved: Recipients’ and Providers’ Perspectives on What is Helpful

This study asked 94 bereaved people to describe support attempts which were helpful & unhelpful. Support most frequently mentioned as helpful was contact with a similiar other & opportunities to express feelings; most freqently mentioned as unhelpful support was giving advice & encouraging recovery.Surprisingly, further investigation found that when 100 control respondents were asked what to do or say to help a bereaved person, most of the answers were classfied as helpful support. (VM)