The effectiveness of group trauma management therapy on the reduction of traumatic bereavement symptoms inbereaved female senior high school students

Background and aims: One of the important issues that bereaved students are faced with is the symptoms that they experience after thedeath of their loved one. Consequently, this can reduce their performance in various aspects of life, including education. The present studyaimed to investigate the effectiveness of group trauma management therapy (GTMT) in reducing the traumatic bereavement symptoms ofbereaved female students.Methods: This study was an experimental research with pretest-posttest control group design. The statistical population of the present studyincluded all the bereaved senior high school female students of Iranshahr in the school year of ۲۰۱۶-۲۰۱۷. Forty subjects were selectedamong the whole population using the simple random sampling method. After conducting a clinical interview, to confirm the symptoms ofbereavement, the selected individuals were randomly assigned to two experimental group (n = ۲۰) and control group (n = ۲۰). The HoganGrief Reaction Checklist (HGRC) was used to collect the data. To analyze the obtained data, the descriptive statistics and multivariateanalysis of covariance (MANCOVA) tests were applied using SPSS software.Results: The results indicated the effectiveness of trauma management therapy (TMT) in decreasing despair (P < ۰.۰۰۱), panic (P < ۰.۰۰۱),anger and blame (P < ۰.۰۰۱), detachment (P < ۰.۰۰۱), disorganization (P < ۰.۰۰۱), and personal growth (P < ۰.۰۰۱).Conclusion: Considering the effect of GTMT on the reduction of traumatic bereavement symptoms among bereaved students, this methodcan be used as an effective treatment for relieving and reducing the traumatic bereavement symptoms.

Keywords:

Group trauma management therapy (GTMT) , Traumatic bereavement symptoms , Female senior high school students