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The experience of loss: Coping and the Seasons for Growth Program

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2015

Erica Frydenberg,
Dennis Muller and
Clare Ivens
Erica Frydenberg*
Affiliation:
The University of Melbourne
Dennis Muller
Affiliation:
The University of Melbourne
Clare Ivens
Affiliation:
The University of Melbourne
*
Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne, Carlton, VICTORIA, 3010, Email: e.frydenberg@unimelb.edu.au
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Abstract

School-based intervention programs to assist students process their grief over a death or loss have been implemented in schools, with few evaluations of such programs.This study set out to report on the evaluation of Seasons for Growth, which is an education program for young people who have experienced the loss of a parent or significant other through separation, divorce or death. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to determine the program’s effectiveness for helping students cope with loss. The evaluation involved a total of 186 students aged between 12 and 18 years from eight schools in Australia. Results indicated that the Seasons for Growth program assisted female students cope with loss, with a less pronounced effect on coping in male students. Factors that may have reduced the effectiveness of the program were identified.

Keywords

copingLossSeasons for Growth

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Type
Research Article
Information
The Educational and Developmental Psychologist , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , 2006, pp. 45 - 68
Copyright
Copyright © Australian Psychological Society 2006

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