Exploring the Experiences of Compassion and Support After Parental Death During Adolescence

This thesis portfolio comprises three parts:Part One: Systematic Literature ReviewThis systematic review sought to explore which aspects of informal support adolescents perceived to be helpful and unhelpful following parental death. Database searches identified 16 studies eligible for synthesis. Thematic synthesis generated five themes. Adolescents found others facilitating life as normal, showing care and being consistent as helpful. Aspects that were found unhelpful were others having a lack of understanding and knowledge surrounding grief. Both helpful and unhelpful aspects were identified for both talking and not talking, yet mostly adolescents found talking helpful.Part Two: Empirical PaperThis research aimed to explore the experiences of compassion development in those who experienced parental death during adolescence. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight participants. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis produced four main themes. The results suggested that parental death initially had a negative effect upon the development of the flows of compassion with some evidence of long-term effects. Facilitators of compassion development around the time of death were identified and longer term post-traumatic growth related to self-compassion and compassion for others was evidenced.Part Three comprises the Appendices