A Trauma-Informed Study of Combat-Related Loss: Sibling Descriptions of Traumatic Grief and Bereavement Support

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how individuals in the United States describe their grief and the bereavement support they have received after experiencing the traumatic loss of a military sibling(s) due to hostile action while engaged in combat operations. Cohen and Wills' social support model, which demonstrates how social connections buffer the effects of stress and loss, guided this study to explain how the role of bereavement support, or lack thereof, influenced how surviving military siblings process their grief. The study sought to elicit in-depth responses that provided rich insights and descriptions. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews with 18 bereaved military siblings and provided firsthand accounts of their grief, coping strategies, and interactions with support systems. Interviews were audio-visually recorded and transcribed for data analysis. Reflective Thematic Analysis was used to analyze and code the data and develop themes related to traumatic grief, identity, meaning-making, and social support. The eight themes developed from the data address the two research questions of the study and contribute to the growing body of literature on military and sibling bereavement, emphasizing the need for trauma-informed, sibling-specific support programs in military and civilian networks.