Learning about loss within a health education program

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to show how children's health and wellbeing are continuously influenced by violence, divorce, family transience, environmental concerns, terrorism within and outside the country's borders and, most recently, threats of and acts of war. This study investigates the perceived needs of fourth‐grade elementary schoolchildren regarding selected questions concerning loss.

Design/methodology/approach

A three‐question survey was developed to collect data gathered from children through written responses, and to identify common themes or individual responses about their understanding of, and perceived needs in learning about, loss. A total of 97 fourth‐grade girls and boys at a suburban Long Island public school district participated in the study. The data were subject to qualitative data analysis.

Findings

Both girls and boys defined loss in many terms other than, and including, loss through death. Relationship loss and loss of objects that held meaning for the children were their most common responses. When asked what they knew about loss, the children first identified the emotions and feelings around loss, second the causes and consequences of loss, and third placed value judgments on loss. In responding to what they wanted to know about loss, the children asked: first, why it exists at all, second, more about the emotional reactions to loss, and third, the possibilities of future loss experiences.

Originality/value

The study revealed a willingness on the part of the children to give voice to their many thoughts and questions surrounding issues of loss in a public school health education setting. Recommendations are made for a more in‐depth study to facilitate understanding of the nature of loss and its correlates among nine‐to‐ten‐year old children.

Citation

Jeanne Coleman, K. (2009), "Learning about loss within a health education program", Health Education, Vol. 109 No. 1, pp. 9-24. https://doi.org/10.1108/09654280910923354