Biomedical subjects

M J Kral

Publications and source records attributed to M J Kral.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2000

Factor structure of the Grief Experience Questionnaire (GEQ).

The Grief Experience Questionnaire (GEQ; T.W. Barrett & T.B. Scott, 1989) is a self-report measure of grief responses, including some that have been associated with grief after a suicide (e.g., feelings of rejection, responsibility, shame, stigmatization, etc.). In this study, a sample of 350 university students who had experienced the death of a significant other completed the GEQ. A principal components analysis with varimax rotation yielded an 8-factor solution with satisfactory psychometric properties. Results clearly document that the GEQ is a multidimensional measure of grief phenomenology. It is concluded that although the GEQ has broad applicability, the scale as revised herein may have a special relevance to suicide bereavement, and may be of use in both research and clinically based applications.

Factor Analysis, Statistical↗

PubMed1999

Survivors of suicide do grieve differently: empirical support for a common sense proposition.

Previous empirical investigations have produced mixed results on the question of whether mode of death differentially affects grief. To further investigate the influence of suicide on grief, 350 previously bereaved university students completed a questionnaire package consisting of several standardized measures. Participants were separated into four groups based on the mode of death experienced as either survivors of suicide (n = 34), accident (n = 57), unanticipated natural (n = 102), or anticipated natural (n = 157) deaths. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that suicide survivors, compared against the other groups, experienced more frequent feelings of rejection, responsibility, "unique" reactions, and more total grief reactions. Trends indicating increased levels of shame and perceived stigmatization were also evident. Aggregate factors of death "naturalness" and "expectedness" showed less influence than mode of death in influencing grief. Overall, results support previous clinical and research findings and intuitive logic in demonstrating that the grief experienced by suicide survivors includes elements that are less frequently seen in the case of nonsuicidal deaths.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1995

Problem solving, stress, and coping in adolescent suicide attempts.

Twenty adolescents who had made suicide attempts were compared with 20 nonpsychiatric control subjects on measures of problem solving, stress, and coping. The suicidal group did not show evidence of "rigid" thinking or of deficits in the ability to generate solutions to standardized interpersonal problems. However, they did report recent histories of more severe life stress and had inaccurate appraisal of the extent to which stressful events could be controlled. Although suicidal patients were able to generate as many adaptive strategies as control subjects for coping with their own most severe recent real-life stressor, they actually used fewer. They were also more likely to identify maladaptive behaviors as ways of coping. These findings support a transactional model of adolescent suicidal behavior, whereby inaccuracies in the appraisal aspects of problem solving (but not in the solution-generation aspects) in the face of high life stress lead to a reduction in the use of adaptive efforts to cope.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1994

Suicide as social logic.

Although suicide is not viewed as a mental disorder per se, it is viewed by many if not most clinicians, researchers, and lay people as a real or natural symptom of depression. It is at least most typically seen as the unfortunate, severe, yet logical end result of a chain of negative self-appraisals, negative events, and hopelessness. Extending an approach articulated by the early French sociologist Gabriel Tarde, in this paper I argue that suicide is merely an idea, albeit a very bad one, having more in common with societal beliefs and norms regarding such things as divorce, abortion, sex, politics, consumer behavior, and fashion. I make a sharp contrast between perturbation and lethality, concepts central to Edwin S. Shneidman's theory of suicide. Evidence supportive of suicide as an idea is discussed based on what we are learning from the study of history and culture, and about contagion/cluster phenomena, media/communication, and choice of method. It is suggested that certain individuals are more vulnerable to incorporate the idea and act of suicide into their concepts of self, based on the same principles by which ideas are spread throughout society. Just as suicide impacts on society, so does society impact on suicide.

Depressive Disorder↗

PubMed1992

Family psychoeducational support groups in schizophrenia.

Family members of 55 patients with schizophrenia were randomly assigned to a psychoeducational support group or to a control group. Support group participants showed greater knowledge of schizophrenia and greater satisfaction with health care services than did control group members. Psychological distress, coping behavior, and family satisfaction did not appear affected by support group participation; nor were support groups associated with lower rehospitalization rates for patients.

Adaptation, Psychological↗