Date of Award

2022

Document Type

Doctoral Research Paper

Degree Name

Psy.D.

Organizational Unit

Graduate School of Professional Psychology

First Advisor

Jennifer Erickson Cornish

Second Advisor

Brian Beaumund

Third Advisor

Peter Buirski

Keywords

Grief, Bereavement, Support group, University counseling center (UCC), College counseling, College students, Loss, Psychotherapy, Counseling

Abstract

The current paper draws upon previous literature, along with the author's experience facilitating grief support groups to introduce a proposed grief support group intervention that could be implemented with college students at university counseling centers in the United States and potentially abroad. The author discusses literature on grief, grief support groups at university counseling centers and in other settings, and presenting problems related to grief among college students and young adults which help inform the design of the proposed intervention. The group intervention design is outlined in detail in the Appendix section, however the Method section gives a brief synopsis of the six-session intervention which involves both interpersonal process and didactic elements. The author proposes the intervention with the purpose of using previous literature to inform a support group which meets the needs of college students, who inevitably suffer from grief after losing loved ones, but appear to be presenting to psychological treatment at a lower rate than the rest of the adult population. The proposed group intervention, which could be facilitated through university counseling centers, may help college students find relief and support throughout their bereavement process, and can help students feel connected with others who are grieving in their campus community.

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Extent

43 pgs

Available for download on Thursday, July 31, 2025



Share

COinS