Resilient Parenting for Bereaved Families

The Resilient Parenting for Bereaved Families (RPBF) Program is a 10 meeting group program designed to promote resilience of bereaved parents and their children following the death of a parent. The program does this by teaching practical tools for parents in the context of a warm and supportive group environment. Tools taught in the program help build what we call the Five Building Blocks of Resilient Parenting.

Five Building Blocks of Resilient Parenting

Self-care: Taking care of yourself is a critical part of taking care of your children.
Strengthening Family Bonds: Positive activities that parents and children share help strengthen their family bonds during times of stress.
Active Listening: Letting children know that you are listening and understanding is one way parent help them cope.
Effective Rules: Effective strategies for establishing family rules help avoid conflict and make family life more predictable during times of change.
Supporting children’s coping: Parents learn to create a family environment in which children can cope effectively with their grief.

Research Base of the Resilient Parenting for Bereaved Families Program

The program is based on research that has repeatedly found that high quality parenting is one of the strongest factors associated with better adjustment of bereaved children. The program is based on the Family Bereavement Program, which was successful in promoting effective parenting by bereaved parents and caregivers up to six years following the program. The research also found that the program had significant benefits in terms of less distressing long-term grief and lower mental health problems for bereaved parents and their children.

Publications

Sandler, I., Gunn, H., Mazza, G., Tein, J. Y., Wolchik, S., Kim, H., Ayers, T., & Porter, M. (in press). Three perspectives on mental health problems of young adults and their parents at a 15-year follow-up of the Family Bereavement Program. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.
Sandler, I., Tein, J. Y., Cham, H., Wolchik, S., & Ayers, T. (2016). Long-term effects of the Family Bereavement Program on spousally-bereaved parents: Grief, mental health, alcohol problems and coping efficacy. Development and Psychopathology, 28, 801-818. doi:10.1017/S0954579416000328
Sandler, I., Tein, J. Y., Wolchik, S. A., & Ayers, T. (2016). The effects of the Family Bereavement Program to reduce suicide ideation and/or attempts of parentally bereaved children six and fifteen years later. Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior, 46, S32-S38. DOI: 10.1111/sltb.12256
Luecken, L. J., Hagan, M. J., Sandler, I. N., Tein, J.-Y., Ayers, T. S., & Wolchik, S. A. (2014). Longitudinal mediators of a randomized prevention program effect on cortisol for youth from parentally bereaved families. Prevention Science, 15(2), 224-232. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11121-013-0385-7
Ayers, T. S., Wolchik, S. A., Sandler, I. N., Twohey, J. L., Weyer, J. L., Padgett-Jones, S., Weiss, L. Cole, E. & Kriege, G. (2014). The Family Bereavement Program: description of a theory-based prevention program for parentally-bereaved children and adolescents. Omega, 68(4), 293-314.
Sandler, I. N., Wolchik, S. A., Ayers, T. S., Tein, J. Y. & Luecken, L. (2013). Family Bereavement Program (FBP) approach to promoting resilience following the death of a parent. Family Science, 4, 2013. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19424620.2013.821763
Schoenfelder, E. N., Sandler, I. N., Millsap, R. E., Wolchik, S. A., Berkel, C., & Ayers, T. S. (2013). Caregiver responsiveness to the family bereavement program: What predicts responsiveness? What does responsiveness predict? Prevention Science. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11121-012-0337-7
Luecken, L. J., Hagan, M. J., Sandler, I. N., Tein, J.-Y., Ayers, T. S., & Wolchik, S. A. (2013). Longitudinal mediators of a randomized prevention program effect on cortisol for youth from parentally bereaved families. Prevention Science. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11121-013-0385-7
Hagan, M. J., Tein, J.-Y., Sandler, I. N., Wolchik, S. A., Ayers, T. S., & Luecken, L. J. (2012). Strengthening effective parenting practices over the long term: Effects of a preventive intervention for parentally bereaved families. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 41(2), 177-188. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2012.651996
Schoenfelder, E. N., Sandler, I. N., Wolchik, S., & MacKinnon, D. (2011). Quality of social relationships and the development of depression in parentally-bereaved youth. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40(1), 85-96. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10964-009-9503-z
Ayers, T. S., Kondo, C. C., & Sandler, I. N. (2011). Bridging the gap: Translating a research-based program into an agency-based service for bereaved children and families Grief and bereavement in contemporary society: Bridging research and practice. (pp. 117-135): Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group, New York, NY.
Sandler, I. N., Ma, Y., Tein, J.-Y., Ayers, T. S., Wolchik, S., Kennedy, C., & Millsap, R. (2010). Long-term effects of the family bereavement program on multiple indicators of grief in parentally bereaved children and adolescents. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78(2), 131-143. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0018393
Sandler, I., Ayers, T. S., Tein, J.-Y., Wolchik, S., Millsap, R., Khoo, S. T., . . . Coxe, S. (2010). Six-year follow-up of a preventive intervention for parentally bereaved youths: a randomized controlled trial. Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine, 164(10), 907-914. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archpediatrics.2010.173
Luecken, L. J., Hagan, M. J., Sandler, I. N., Tein, J.-Y., Ayers, T. S., & Wolchik, S. A. (2010). Cortisol levels six-years after participation in the Family Bereavement Program. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 35(5), 785-789. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2009.11.002
Wolchik, S. A., Coxe, S., Tein, J. Y., Sandler, I. N., & Ayers, T. S. (2009). Six-year longitudinal predictors of posttraumatic growth in parentally bereaved adolescents and young adults. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 58(2), 107-128. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2190/OM.58.2.b
Wolchik, S. A., Ma, Y., Tein, J.-Y., Sandler, I. N., & Ayers, T. S. (2008). Parentally bereaved children's grief: Self-system beliefs as mediators of the relations between grief and stressors and caregiver-child relationship quality. Death Studies, 32(7), 597-620. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07481180802215551
Sandler, I. N., Wolchick, S. A., Ayers, T. S., Tein, J. Y., Coxe, S., & Chow, W. (2008). Linking theory and intervention to promote resilience in parentally bereaved children. In M. Stroebe & W. Stroebe (Eds.), Handbook of Bereavement Research and Practice: Advances in Theory and Intervention (pp. 531-551). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Haine, R. A., Ayers, T. S., Sandler, I. N., & Wolchik, S. A. (2008). Evidence-based practices for parentally bereaved children and their families. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 39(2), 113-121. doi: 10.1037/0735-7028.39.2.113
Foster, E., Porter, M. M., Ayers, T. S., Kaplan, D. L., & Sandler, I. (2007). Estimating the Costs of Preventive Interventions. Evaluation Review, 31(3), 261-286. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0193841X07299247
Wolchik, S. A., Tein, J.-Y., Sandler, I. N., & Ayers, T. S. (2006). Stressors, quality of the child-caregiver relationship, and children's mental health problems after parental death: The mediating role of self-system beliefs. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 34(2), 221-238.
Tein, J.-Y., Sandler, I. N., Ayers, T. S., & Wolchik, S. A. (2006). Mediation of the effects of the Family Bereavement Program on mental health problems of bereaved children and adolescents. Prevention Science, 7(2), 179-195.
Schmiege, S. J., Khoo, S. T., Sandler, I. N., Ayers, T. S., & Wolchick, S. A. (2006). Symptoms of internalizing and externalizing problems: Modeling recovery curves after the death of a parent. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 31(6 Suppl 1), S152-160.
Haine, R. A., Wolchik, S. A., Sandler, I. N., Millsap, R. E., & Ayers, T. S. (2006). Positive parenting as a protective resource for parentally bereaved children. Death Studies, 30(1), 1-28.
Sandler, I., Kennedy, C., Balk, D., Jordan, J., Nadeau, J., & Shapiro, E. (2005). Bridging the Gap between Research and Practice in Bereavement: Report from the Center for the Advancement of Health. Death Studies, 29(2), 93-122.
Kwok, O.-M., Haine, R. A., Sandler, I. N., Ayers, T. S., Wolchik, S. A., & Tein, J.-Y. (2005). Positive Parenting as a Mediator of the Relations Between Parental Psychological Distress and Mental Health Problems of Parentally Bereaved Children. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 34(2), 260-271.
Lin, K. K., Sandler, I. N., Ayers, T. S., Wolchik, S. A., & Luecken, L. J. (2004). Resilience in parentally bereaved children and adolescents seeking preventive services. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 33(4), 673-683. doi: 10.1207/s15374424jccp3304_3
Sandler, I. N., Ayers, T. S., Wolchik, S. A., Tein, J. Y., Kwok, O. M., Haine, R. A., . . . Griffin, W. A. (2003). The Family Bereavement Program: Efficacy evaluation of a theory-based prevention program for parentally bereaved children and adolescents. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 71(3), 587-600.
Ayers, T. S., Kennedy, C. L., Sandler, I. N., & Stokes, J. (2003). Bereavement, Adolescence. In M. Bloom & T. P. Gullotta (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Primary Prevention and Health Promotion (pp. 221-229). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
Sandler, I. N., Ayers, T. S., & Romer, A. L. (2002). Fostering resilience in families in which a parent has died. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 5(6), 945-956. doi: 10.1089/10966210260499195
West, S. G., Sandler, I., Pillow, D. R., Baca, L., & Gersten, J. C. (1991). The use of structural equation modeling in generative research: Toward the design of a preventive intervention for bereaved children. Special Issue: Preventive Intervention Research Centers. American Journal of Community Psychology, 19(4), 459-480.