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Investigating Adaptive Grieving Styles: A Delphi Study

Authors:
Doughty, Elizabeth A.

Source:
Death Studies: 2009, 33(5), pp. 462-480.

Summary

This article summarizes the results of a study that used the Delphi method of gathering opinions from experts to investigate the adaptive grieving styles model of bereavement. As developed by T. L. Martin and Kenneth J. Doka, adaptive grieving styles are conceptualized as running along a continuum with an instrumental pattern at one end, an intuitive pattern at the opposite end, and blended patterns along the continuum. Grieving styles are viewed through the two criteria of an individual’s internal experiences of grief and external expressions of grief.  Intuitive grievers experience deep feelings such as extreme sadness, and express grief by crying and talking with others.  Instrumental grievers experience less intense feelings and display a more cognitive, problem-solving approach that expresses grief by problem-solving, creating memorials, and volunteering. Dissonance results when the bereaved use a style not natural to them. The author concluded that there is a consensus among experts that the adaptive grieving styles model reflects the experiences of the bereaved.

Key Words: Delphi, adapt, intuitive, instrumental

Service Provider Implications

Service providers may benefit from knowing that grief experts recognize that each individual’s pattern of grieving is unique, but that many people use elements of both an intuitive and an instrumental approach in adapting to grief.