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Purpose – This chapter critically engages with a positively oriented emotional reflexivity with the aim of improving inclusivity in bereavement research.

Methodology/Approach – The heartfelt positivity methodology intentionally creates positivity through the everyday practices of academic research. In this chapter, emotional reflexivity is guided by the heartfelt positivity methodology to identify and learn from collaborators’ emotions. It focuses on collaborators whose involvement in the academic community falls beyond that of the immediate research team at different stages of bereavement research.

Findings – The emotions of collaborators involved in bereavement research have been overlooked, yet their inclusion reveals a significant potential for the sanctioning of bereaved mothers’ potential participation in bereavement-focused research or breastmilk donation programmes. Key learnings that may be applied to conducting future bereavement research are (i) the potential for collaborators to also be bereaved parents (ii) the continued need to strive for the inclusion of bereaved parents in research and (iii) to extend the methodological principle of emotional reflexivity to include research collaborators when researching emotionally sensitive topics.

Originality/Value – This chapter argues that bereaved mothers’ knowledge and practices of thriving in hard times can either be fostered or derailed at different stages of the research cycle depending on which narratives frame human suffering. For researchers and collaborators, emotional reflexivity is crucial to inclusive research practices and knowledge translation.

Grief and its concomitant loneliness are common problems in the social process of ageing. Using case study accounts, this paper describes the perceptions of four elderly bereaved people and their experiences of loneliness following conjugal bereavement. Case study accounts provide an opportunity to explore, describe and interpret data that may not yield to a simple analysis. In this paper the accounts include a collection of information on the respondents' experience of loss in the form of ‘durable biographies’ (Walter, 1996) that were typical, revelatory and critical. The respondents took part in semi‐structured interviews about their experiences as part of a larger ethnographic study. This paper reflects on their comments and raises a number of interesting theoretical and practical issues to do with loneliness following conjugal bereavement. The paper points out that bereavement research is dominated by psycho‐analytical conceptualisations which place emphasis on the ‘grief work’ hypoThesis, with less attention paid to bereavement models that highlight the social impact of loss on older people.

Age-inclusive management practices are crucial for addressing the needs of the older workforce, but there is limited research on these practices. One underexplored area is how workplaces can support older employees dealing with the loss of a loved one. The psychological process of loss differs for older employees and can have adverse effects on their ability to perform in the workplace. The purpose of this paper is to explore how workplaces can provide the necessary tools to support their older grieving employees.

This conceptual paper draws on the job-demand resource model and signaling theory to investigate how flexible work arrangements can support older employees after a bereavement and contribute to optimal employee performance.

Flexible work arrangements are theorized to lead to optimal performance via informational support. An ethical climate and stronger cultural competencies are proposed to strengthen this relationship. A theoretical framework is presented for a comprehensive research approach.

This paper advances the current understanding of age-inclusive management and offers a novel perspective on the benefits of flexible working arrangements.

Bereavement and loss are key factors in poor emotional wellbeing among people with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD). However, little attention has been drawn to this group in the grief and disability literature. The purpose of this paper is to make sense of bereavement and loss in people with PMLD, with reference to theoretical contributions to the field and studies of grief reactions.

A systematic review revealed 34 relevant published works. These were analysed for relevant contributions.

Three main types of theoretical contributions have been made; traditional grief theories, cognitive approaches and attachment-based perspectives. Although a limited number of case studies exist, a range of grief reactions have been reported in people with PMLD. Traditional grief theories and cognitive approaches are somewhat limited in making sense of grief responses in this group, while attachment-based perspectives may prove useful in providing theoretical and therapeutic direction.

Further research is required to more accurately describe the nature of relationships in people with PMLD.

Major contributions to the field point to the value of facilitating engagement with the grieving process, through communication around the loss and training for staff. In addition, attachment-based perspectives are offering routes for establishing therapeutic relationships that may help to resolve behavioural difficulties.

This paper provides an overview of the perspectives within bereavement and disability, drawing together clear theoretical frameworks for future research and practice.

Research suggests that parentally bereaved children are likely to experience lower academic success and may need long-term support through tertiary education. Gender matters — boys bereaved of fathers and girls bereaved of mothers are at increased risk. Boys also exhibit higher levels of emotional and behavioural issues following bereavement. Age is another factor and exam results of children bereaved before the age of five or at twelve are significantly more affected than those bereaved at other ages. Circumstances affecting these achievements concern the relationship between the child’s emotional state and how it plays out in behaviour and motivation in school.

Significantly, Freddie Pargetter, the subject of the chapter, has a twin sister, Lily. The twins had just turned 12 when their father was killed. Comparing the twins’ General Certificate of Education (GCSE) results fits the research patterns — Lily managed well and Freddie did not. Freddie recognises that the academic environment of Felpersham Cathedral School did not support him well and chooses Borchester FE College to continue his studies. This choice raises controversy in the family, indicative of well-rehearsed, real-world educational arguments. Social media responses to other Archers plot lines reveal the extent of how educational issues in the programme resonate with listeners.

Studies have identified low levels of social support as one of several risk factors for poor psychological outcome following bereavement. Despite this fact, little is known about how bereaved individuals interpret and define social support or which behaviors they perceive as helpful (Cacciatore, Thieleman, Fretts, & Jackson, 2021). The present study seeks to understand the experiences of the support received by Danish families who have lost a parent to death. Individuals recruited from a mutual bereavement support group (N = 87, 25–59 years old) responded to an online survey, which yielded both quantitative and qualitative data, the latter from open-ended questions and comment boxes. The results demonstrated a variety of sources of support. However, some of the bereaved individuals also reported a decided lack of help for both adults and children post-loss. As most respondents were women (93%), future research might shed more light on possible gender differences in the expectations, needs, and experiences of social support in bereavement. The study participants provided elaborate suggestions for the improvement of bereavement support, such as, practical help, access to bereavement support groups, more knowledge on bereavement and grief in the Danish society, and easier access to peer support. The chapter revealed an apparent lack of coordination of the support for parentally bereaved families. Additionally, some groups of bereaved children seemed to be particularly vulnerable and overlooked, namely the very young children, children in late adolescence/young adulthood, and children with special needs.

Bereavement is far reaching and has a significant impact on many lives as widow(er)s are faced with countless changes to their everyday routines, their relationships and their consumption patterns. It is in this context that the purpose of this study is to examine the links between the meanings of bereavement for widows and the types and sources of social support sought. This deepens the understanding of the reasons for the success or failure of service encounters and thus contributes to consumer well-being.

A qualitative study was carried out to gain more insight into this issue. A total of 24 in-depth interviews were conducted with French widows 59 years of age and older. To fully understand the diversity of bereavement experiences, the authors examined the following factors: life trajectory, life, as the spouse’s/partner’s death, support received and/or solicited and the success or failure of service encounters.

The findings suggest that bereavement experiences hold different meanings related to the types and sources of the preferred support. The following six classes were identified: dealing with administrative and financial issues, maintaining parental roles, enduring the memories of the circumstances of the spouse’s/partner’s death, reorganizing daily life, facing the loneliness of widowhood and expressing the affects of bereavement. These classes help to identify the conditions for the success or failure of service encounters.

The following two avenues emerge that contribute to the well-being of widows: “loss-oriented” and “restoration-oriented” bereavement classes of meanings. The former is embodied by widows primarily seeking “nurturant support” who expect self-oriented and relationship-focused service behaviour on the part of service providers, and the latter by widows primarily seeking “action-facilitating” support who expect “task-oriented” service behaviour from service providers. These results should allow service providers to be aware of when to prioritize the task, the self and/or the relationship, to provide a successful service encounter for consumers of bereavement services.

Discussion of China's one-child policy generally centres on its demographic effects. Bereavement among parents of singleton children and the role of social capital in the bereavement process have been under-explored. The purpose of this paper is to focus on mothers who lost their only children during the Sichuan earthquake in 2008. The paper aims to discuss the under-explored yet crucial issues of the one-child policy – the ways in which Chinese bereaved mothers handle the death of their singleton children – and the roles that social capital can play in their bereavement process.

The author conducted eight case studies on bereaved mothers through home visits, semi-structured interviews and participation in public activities during August 2010 and May 2011. In-depth interviews were used to collect information from these bereaved mothers in Sichuan, China.

The case studies reveal two major experiences of bereaved mother whose familial support varies substantially. One major experience is shared by those who had received emotional support from husband (who offered bonding social capital), and were able to get through the psychological pain. Another experience is shared by bereaved mothers who lost their familial relations. Weak social ties (i.e. an NGO which offered bridging social capital) remained the only source of support. Policies can target at the latter group of mothers by helping them to organise themselves into community-based groups and help to relieve their frustration and grief.

These research findings have implications for the development of NGOs, as well as complementary support for community-based bereavement counselling and community care in China.

The article presents research on the long-term information needs of homicide bereaved individuals in the context of record-keeping practice within Major Crime Units (MCU) in England. The research objectives were to: (1) identify the long-term information needs of individuals bereaved by homicide; (2) establish MCU officer perceptions on the provision of information to individuals bereaved by homicide; (3) establish the current practice of MCU officers in managing and providing access to homicide records and (4) explore the capability of current recordkeeping practice to move beyond the use of homicide records for their primary “policing” purpose.

The research objectives were met by combining findings from a literature review across policing, bereavement, death, victimology, criminology, records management and archival studies with results from a singular interview-based study with officers at the Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire Major Crime Unit (BHCMCU).

The findings indicate that the long-term information needs of homicide bereaved individuals are ill-served by the current police recordkeeping framework which provides them with little involvement in record-keeping decision-making and limited long-term access to the information required for sensemaking/adaption in a post-homicide world. In this context, the research demonstrates a long term need for: (1) information access; (2) support for access; (3) a direct and personalised information access service and (4) trauma-informed and victim/survivor centred practice in police recordkeeping contexts.

The research addresses a major gap across disciplinary research literature in its focus on the ways investigative information is disclosed by the police to the bereaved following case closure.