Abstract
Grief is a universal experience that is influenced by socio-cultural cultural norms. While past research has acknowledged that attention to diversity and culture are in integral part of treatment, research on grief interventions for Black and Latinx populations has been limited and even more so for interventions that incorporate cultural adaptations. Using peer reviewed articles published between 1985-2022, this systematic review set out to investigate three questions: What are the grief interventions used with grieving Latinx and Black communities? What is the effectiveness of the interventions in reducing grief symptomology? How has cultural adaption been implemented? This review revealed that interventions vary widely and while effectiveness was present in most studies, culturally adapted interventions were limited. Furthermore, the systematic review revealed that all Latinx studies were in the context of loss by medical complications while the studies with Black Americans were largely related to loss by homicide. General themes and patterns around types of grief, grief symptoms, grief and gender, injustice and revenge, and religion and spirituality also emerged as important aspects of the grief process and were explored in this review. Implications for further study were also outlined, including a call to action to increase future research around the topic of grief and culture with Black and Latinx populations.
Library of Congress Subject Headings
Grief; Grief therapy; Hispanic Americans; Latin Americans; African Americans
Date of Award
2023
School Affiliation
Graduate School of Education and Psychology
Department/Program
Psychology
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctorate
Faculty Advisor
Carrie Castañeda-Sound
Recommended Citation
Mares, Melissa, "An examination of grief interventions with black and LatinX communities" (2023). Theses and Dissertations. 1396.
https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/etd/1396