CHILDREN'S AND YOUNG PEOPLE'S SORROW AND GRIEF IN FAMILY AND CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS (2019-2025)

Description of the Study

Almost everyone experiences grief and sorrow at some phase of their life. For children and young people sorrow and grief are often related to family and close relationships, that is, grief as an emotion is relational. Various events can cause grief and sorrow, for example an ending of a friendship, the child’s own illness, or death or illness of a close person. The causes of sorrow and grief thus vary, as do individuals’ ways of coping with them. However, children may have only limited opportunities or no social space and time to express their grief and sorrow.

This international research project takes a fresh and important approach to grief and sorrow in close relationships by focusing on children’s and young people’s experiences of grief, and on professionals’ perspectives on working with children’s grief in two countries, Finland and Spain.

Several data sets are collected in the project: 1) Quantitative survey data (N=1 200) and 2) interview data (N=80) from 8-9-year old children and 15-16-year old young people in Finland and Spain, and 3) group interviews (N=100) from professionals (e.g. social workers and teachers) working with children and young people in Finland and in Spain.

The objectives and purpose of the study

In the study, funded by the Academy of Finland and the Alli Paasikivi Foundation, the objectives are

1. to contribute to the understanding of children and young people’s experiences of grief and sorrow, coping and resilience and how these emotions are processed and dealt with within families,

2. to explore children and young peoples’ perceptions of help and support on the societal level,

3. to explore the cultural similarities and variations in these experiences in two countries, Finland and Spain and

4. to explore the perceptions of professionals (e.g. social workers, teachers, psychologists and youth and NGO workers) on helping children and young people and enhancing their resilience and coping.

The study thus seeks to enhance the well-being of children and young people in adverse life situations and to understand these experiences on a cross-cultural level. The research process will also include the development of multiple research methods for use in studying children and young people’s sorrow and grief. A novel method, a grief map, will be developed and utilized in the study. Hence, the study will not only benefit the scientific community but, importantly, also the various professionals who work with children, young people and families in difficult life situations.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Please contact us in any queries concerning the study.

Principal Investigator:
Henna Pirskanen, Associate Professor
University of Lapland
henna.pirskanen(at)ulapland.fi
tel. + 358 40 689 805

Research group in Spain:

Esther Navio
M.A., Research Assistant in Madrid
email: esther.navio@uam.es

Angélica Martínez Jiménez
Research Assistant in Alicante
email: amj66@gcloud.ua.es

Research group in Finland:

Kimmo Jokinen
Professor Emeritus in Family Studies
University of Jyväskylä
kimmo.j.jokinen(at)jyu.fi

Crista Juutinen
M.Soc. Sc., Junior Researcher
crista.juutinen(at)ulapland.fi

Aliisa Kukkola
B.Sc. (Psych), Research Assistant
aliisa.kukkola(at)ulapland.fi

Maria Labbart
M. Econ., Research Assistant
maria.labbart(at)ulapland.fi

Paula Vainikka
M. Soc. Sc., Researcher
paula.vainikka(at)ulapland.fi

Would you like to participate in the study?

Help and support in grief

Different organizations and NGOs provide help and support in adverse life situations:

Fundación Anar (https://www.anar.org/) in Spain

Lasten ja nuorten puhelin (in Finland)

Nuortennetti (in Finland)

You can read the privacy statement of the study here:

Tratamiento de datos personales con fines científicos (in Spanish)

Tutkimuksen tietosuojaseloste Lasten ja nuorten suru (in Finnish)   

Events

22.8.2023  Nordic-Baltic Dictoral Network in Social Work Summer School, presentation "Children's Grief Following a Personal Crisis - Finnish Social Worker's Experiences on Trauma- and Crisis-aware Working" (Vainikka)

22.4.2022 Surukonferenssi [Grief Conference], Tampere, Finland, presentation Suru lasten, nuorten ja sosiaalityöntekijöiden kokemuksissa (Pirskanen & Vainikka)

17.2.2022 Sosiaalityön tutkimuksen päivät [Social work research conference], presentation Surun ilmeneminen sosiaalityössä (Vainikka)

13.11.2021 Syväluotaus suruun -seminar, Sodankylä, Finland, presentation Lasten ja nuorten suru perhe- ja läheissuhteissa (Pirskanen)

Publications

Pirskanen, H. (2023). Children's grief maps—Capturing children's grief and sorrow in family and close relationships. Children & Society (early view), https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12783