PET BEREAVEMENT: MENGAJARKAN KONSEP DUKA PADA ANAK

Ketika anak berduka atas kematian hewan peliharaanya merupakan suatu keadaan yang rumit. Orang tua hendaknya tidak meremehkan keadaan tersebut namun juga tidak melebih-lebihkan. Sayangnya orang tua seringkali menghindari diskusi topik yang sulit salah satunya adalah kematian, makna kehilangan serta manifestasi emosi yang normal dari kesedihan anak. Padahal Pet Bereavment dapat dijadikan momen, orang tua mengajarkan dengan perspektif lain misalnya menjelaskan pada anak bahwa kehidupan berdampingan dengan kematian, saat terdapat kematian maka juga ada kehidupan baru pada mahluk lain. Hal yang terpenting orang tua mengajarkan konsep kesedihan yang harus ditanggulangi dengan sehat agar anak dapat meneruskan hidupnya. Cara penjelasan mengenai kematian pada anak dapat mempengaruhi anak dalam melewati masa duka. Penjelasan yang tidak tepat berpotensi membuat bingung anak saat memahami konsep kematian. Melalui traditional review, artikel ini bertujuan agar orang tua memahami dan merespon dengan tepat reaksi duka sesuai usia anak serta mengajarkan proses berduka dan menanggulanginya.Kata Kunci: Anak, Pet Bereavement, Orang tua

Pet Grief: Tools to Assess Owners’ Bereavement and Veterinary Communication Skills

In Italy, there are still very few studies on the psychological impact of losing a pet. The need to fill this gap springs from the fact that pet loss counseling services are increasingly being activated. The aim of this study is the Italian adaptation of instruments for veterinary counseling services. The survey instruments adapted were: Pet Bereavement Questionnaire (PBQ) to describe the individual experience of pet-grief; Regret of Bereaved Family Members (RBFM) to assess the family regret; Shared Decision-Making Questionnaire (SDM-Q-9) for decision making in end of life; Consultation and Relational Empathy Measure (CARE) to assess the veterinarian relational empathy during clinical encounters. All the instruments obtained good internal reliability, and the results of the confirmative factor analysis of all the Italian versions were in accordance with the original ones. The correlational analysis among the variables evidenced the following aspects: the more the owner feels involved by the veterinarian in the decision making process the more the veterinarian is perceived by the owner as empathetic; when the veterinarian is perceived as empathic and the decision making is shared the owners’ pet bereavement distress and regrets are reduced; negative dimensions of bereavement (grief, guilt, anger, intrusive thoughts and decisional regrets) are strictly linked to each other, therefore if one dimension increases or decreases the others do too. The path analysis suggests that developing a veterinary relationship-centered care practice may be beneficial for pet owners facing end-of-life issues and the death of their companion animals since it showed that shared-decision making strategies and empathic communication may reduce negative dimensions of bereavement that may complicate grief. Interestingly, adopting shared decision-making strategies may contribute to be perceived as more empathic. These aspects may be taken into consideration in end-of -life communication training in veterinary medicine.

Self-Compassion, Social Constraints, and Psychosocial Outcomes in a Pet Bereavement Sample

This study investigated self-compassion in the context of grief following the death of a companion animal in a recently bereaved sample ( N = 431). We addressed social contexts and individual differences focusing on how psychosocial outcomes vary as a function of social constraints, as well as individual differences in self-compassion and use of continuing bonds (CB). We observed that self-compassion related to the frequency of engagement in CB. Self-compassion also moderated relationships between grief severity and depression as well as social constraints and depression. We recommend future research on self-compassion training and psychosocial outcomes, especially for those experiencing social constraints or disenfranchised grief.