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Baggerly, J. , & Abugideiri, S. (2010). Grief counseling for muslim preschool and elementary school children.Journal of Multicultural Counseling & Development, 38(2), 112.
The authors look at views of death, mourning and burial rituals, and accepted healing practices in Sunni Muslim culture. They also examine intervention methods for addressing death with Muslim children, group counseling, play therapy, and community outreach. The authors note that with Muslim children, counselors should affirm religious beliefs that emerge during play therapy. The authors tell of Naafiah, a 4-year-old Muslim girl who was having nightmares after Yusuf drowned. In her first session, she played with puppets and said that monsters came during her sleep but became smaller with her magic. The therapist noted her feelings of being scared in addition to her creativity and strength for controlling her fear. Naafiah also drew a picture of herself with Yusuf in the water. The therapist responded to was able to realize that Naafiah missed Yusuf.
The authors note that positive coping is important, and turned to where the therapist asked Naafiah what she could do to make herself feel better when she was missing Yusuf. Naafiah told the therapist that she would think of holding hands with Yusuf.  The authors advocate taking time to build relationships with the Muslim community leaders, which will lead to increased trust by Muslim families that need counseling services. Counselors should advocate for Muslims by removing the barriers to school and community resources. The authors advocate that counseling agencies should develop advertisements, literature, and services that appeal to Muslim families. This article is interesting because it looks at a specific community and places grief within a socio-cultural context that is specific to worldview and customs.
Werner-Lin, A. , & Biank, N. (2012). Holding parents so they can hold their children: Grief work with surviving spouses to support parentally bereaved children. Omega: Journal of Death & Dying, 66(1), 1.
Werner-Lin and Biank assert that a child’s adjustment to the death of a parent is greatly influenced by the surviving parent, and that parent’s ability to attend to his or her own grief-related needs. This also encompasses creating and sustaining a consistent and nurturing environment, and encouraging the child to express thoughts, feelings, and fantasies that are about the loss. However, some argue that the grief and loss of the surviving parent may compromise their ability to effectively parent.
The authors find that clinicians can help parents manage and direct children’s grief by providing a holding environment for whole family units, and help prevent long-term adverse mental health outcomes. The authors note that in combining therapeutic work with surviving spouses and bereaved children, children’s grief can be facilitated as newly single parents adapt the structure of family life. The authors found that when clinical work with families begins before the ill parent dies, the clinician may build a relationship with the dying parent while also preparing the child and surviving spouse for life after loss. The authors conclude with a curriculum for supporting both bereaved children and parents, in addition to presenting common challenges faced by surviving parents.
This article is interesting as it deals with the clinician side of grief, and the authors’ suggestion of a bond that is created by the clinician as a form of support can help mitigate the sense of loss and bereavement is useful in the pursuit of a holistic family studies approach. I also think the idea that surviving parents need help with learning how to parent again is innovative.
Coolhart, D., Baker, A., Farmer, S., Malaney, M., & Shipman, D. (2013). Therapy with Transsexual Youth and Their Families: A Clinical Tool for Assessing Youth’s Readiness for Gender Transition. Journal Of Marital & Family Therapy, 39(2), 223-243.
The authors write about transsexual youth, and how youth prepare or get ready for gender transition. They note that the World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s Standards of Care (WPATHSC) suggests that a letter of recommendation should be prepared and issued from a mental health professional if a transsexual individual desires  or seeks out hormone therapy or surgical alterations/transitions. The authors argue that transsexual clients are unique as they have a special dependence on therapists to obtain the medical treatments and alterations needed to live life in their desired/expressed gender.
The authors point out that in spite of this need for therapeutic services, most therapists do not possess the sufficient training that is necessary to sensitively serve transsexual clients, especially transsexual youth. The authors do note that a published clinical assessment tool exists. This took is for therapists to determine readiness of adult transsexual clients for medical gender transition. However, there is no similar tool is available for therapists working specifically with transsexual youth.
The authors conclude by discussing various therapeutic issues specific to transsexual youth. Additionally, the families of transsexual youth are explored. The authors offer a clinical assessment tool for determining transsexual youth readiness for surgical and medical treatments. This article is great as it challenges existing tools/instruments and it helps provide solutions for a group of youth that are often overlooked or not served with adequate support. This is important to explore, as it can help with clinical practice greatly.
Malpas, J. (2011). Between Pink and Blue: A Multi-Dimensional Family Approach to Gender Nonconforming Children and their Families. Family Process, 50(4), 453-470. doi:10.1111/j.1545-5300.2011.01371.x
Malpas writes about the different dimensions in a familial approach to deviant gender minorities in the family. The author notes that families of gender nonconforming children have the need and obligation/requirement to negotiate the interactions between two gender systems. These systems entail a rigid gender binary imported from familial, social, and cultural experiences, in addition to a fluid gender spectrum that is articulated or constructed by their child.
The author then reviews the differing and various parental reactions in regards to their children’s nonconforming gender developments. The author also suggests that the parental mandates of protection and acceptance are in fact problematic. They are problematized by the difference of gender norms between the child and the family, in addition to relationships such as the ones between the child and the environment. The author used multiple therapeutic modalities for research. These modalities include parental coaching and education, parent support group, and child and family therapy.
Malpas concludes by illustrating interventions that will support both parents and pre-pubescent children in their negotiation of safety, connection, and fluidity. This article is fantastic as it examines very specific forms of support systems and challenges the inherent relationship foundations that we assume in the familial relationships. The questions of parental acceptance and protection are very important, and the way the author problematizes these elements is very intriguing and engaging.
Richardson, M. , Cobham, V. , Murray, J. , & McDermott, B. (2011). Parents’ grief in the context of adult child mental illness: A qualitative review. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 14(1), 28-43.
Richardson et al discuss how research shows that parents and other family members often grieve over their child and/or relative’s mental illnesses. This grief seems to emerge from a profound sense of loss. The authors note that this loss is expressed as complicated and nonfinite. The authors review research in this field, and focus on the grief experience of parents in relation to their adult child’s mental disorder.
The authors consider both qualitative and quantitative methodologies to explore familial and parent expressions of grief. They noted that there is evidence for the association between familial and parental grief and other outcomes. The authors also discuss finding ways to predict the patterns of grief that will emerge from families having children with mental disorders. This is helpful as it shows a mediation technique. The authors conclude by noting methodological and theoretical issues with this branch of study.
While this article is mostly a review of the literature out there, it is an interesting take on grief. I had only been thinking of grief in terms of death, but after reading this study, I started consider grief as a form of loss, even without death. While mental illnesses can carry a stigma, the loss a parent has for “normalcy” is still a form of grief, and this articles focus on the predictive approach to mediating grief is one that could be very useful and applicable to the field of family studies, pending further research.
 
 
Samons, S. L. (2009). Can this marriage be saved? Addressing male-to-female transgender issues in couples therapy. Sexual & Relationship Therapy, 24(2), 152-162. doi:10.1080/14681990903002748
Samson writes about transgender and couples therapy. The author notes that it was once believed that if a husband had transgender issues it spelled the end of a marriage. The authors notes that this can be a complicated scenario and that it is best handled by a therapist who has experience with such issues. While many marriages and other comparable relationships can survive, these types of transgender revelation can even enrich some.
The author points out that many couples can live happily together even when the husband has a transgender identity and even if “he” transitions to live fully in the female gender role. The author stresses that several factors must be taken into account by a therapist when approaching this kind of therapy work, in these kinds of situations. Important, the author notes, is a thorough basic assessment of each individual and of the underlying strength of the relationship. This is essential. This assessment should include: “transgender-specific assessment of the husband, including self-awareness and intentions; learning when and how the wife found out about his transgender issues; and information about the relationship dynamics in the extended family.”
The author concludes that the therapist should be informed about things like common fears of the wife of a transgender husband.  Approaches for coming out should be recommended. This information will be useful when helping the couple explore the options available to them in their relationship. Human sexuality and nature is also important to discuss. This article is great as it shows an interesting phenomenon: when a person transitions gender in an established relationship, and the relationship survives. For clinical practitioners, this is an important area.
 
Al-Gamal, E. , & Long, T. (2010). Anticipatory grieving among parents living with a child with cancer. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 66(9), 1980.
 
Al-Gamal and Long give a report of a comparative study that measures anticipatory grief in parents of children recently diagnosed with cancer, and of those whose children were diagnosed six to twelve months earlier. The authors note that the public perceives cancer as a fatal illness even though there have improved treatments. Parents commonly feel despair, hopelessness, and worthlessness. The authors recognize that these feelings are psychological expressions of anticipatory grief. In terms of therapeutic intervention, anticipatory grief is an area that is emerging as highly beneficial to professionals in the field.
The authors sampled 140 parents in two groups: newly diagnosed and 6–12 months after diagnosis. Using structured interviews to assess anticipatory grief, the authors also used the Marwit and Meuser Caregiver Inventory: Childhood Cancer instrument. The authors found that less than half of the parents in both groups reported being at peace with their life situation or with themselves. Parents of newly diagnosed children reported severe anticipatory grief than the second group. No substantial differences were found in responses between mothers and fathers.
The authors conclude that healthcare professionals should encourage parents to discuss sad or negative feelings regarding their child’s illness and potential outcome. They recommend that hospital policies should include support group services for parents, and nurses should encourage parents to utilize these groups.
This article is really interesting as it deals with mitigation and anticipation. If there are proper interventive strategies in place closer to diagnosis, parents’ experiences may be more positive and less stressful/traumatic during the cancer care process and treatment.
Chapman, R., Wardrop, J., Freeman, P., Zappia, T., Watkins, R., & Shields, L. (2012). A descriptive study of the experiences of lesbian, gay and transgender parents accessing health services for their children. Journal Of Clinical Nursing, 21(7/8), 1128-1135.
Chapman, Wardrop, Freeman, Zappia, and the other authors seek to explore transgender issues like healthcare. The authors note that while lesbian, gay and transgender families are becoming more common, not much is known about their health-care seeking experiences. These families may experience fear about disclosing their sexual orientation or gender identity to health care professionals. Because of this, the authors note that lesbian, gay and transgender parents may not be receiving optimal care for their children.
The authors undertook descriptive qualitative study. They obtained data that was collected through semi-structured interviews with eleven lesbian, gay and transgender parents in Australia. The authors found three themes that were generated from the data. These themes were “managing health care experiences”, “attitudes,” and finally “transforming bureaucracies.” The authors determined that negative experiences included encountering homophobia and/or transphobia and being required to inform or educate health professionals. Positive experiences were found to have occurred when both parents were acknowledged as having an equal say in their child’s health care.
The authors found that many health professionals lack the skills or knowledge to meet the needs of lesbian, gay and transgender families, and that adopting a philosophy of family centered care can enable health providers and health professionals to provide lesbian, gay and transgender families with inclusive non-discriminatory care. This article is great as it links research to clinical care.
 
Katz, S., & Marshall, B. (2003). New sex for old: Lifestyle, consumerism, and the ethics of aging well. Journal of Aging Studies, 17, 3-16.
 
This article explores the reinvention of differing notions of maturity and aging, lifecourses, and senior citizenship. In today’s society, media and advertising create an idealized culture of ageless consumers and active populations. The authors explore two questions: one of which is whether consumer ethics associated with choice, risk management, and self-care build into new identities around the aging body. The second question asks how sexuality in general, in addition to new concepts of sexual function in particular, has emerged as a pivotal concern for rehabilitating the aging body and negotiating successful lifestyles.
The authors explore these questions through an analysis of health, sexological, and marketing materials directed at both men and women. The authors conclude that by realigning sexuality, gender, age, the body, lifecourse, and identity and in seeking new sex for old, culture and society exposes its impossible ideal that people live outside of time. However, the authors do note that there is a new appropriate and invention of time and age at work. The elderly are inventing diverse new ways of life that mobilize the true resources of time (tradition, wisdom, narrative, memory, change, generation, leadership)  away from the constraints imposed on them by a postmodern life course regime and its constricting posthuman codes of functionality.
This article is interesting and useful as it explores, in

a very theoretical way, the emergence of posthuman bodies and aging, and how the media and culture question the agency one has in the functionality of their own life. This article also pushes time as a resource, and our ability to appropriate that time as humans.
 
Wiseman, A. (2013). Summer’s end and sad goodbyes: Children’s picturebooks about death and dying. Children’s Literature in Education, 44(1), 1-14.
 
Wiseman’s article explores the psychological and literary aspect of death/loss themed children’s picture books. The authors focus on two questions: 1) how can children’s picture books, support their grief when someone dies?  And 2) how do the illustrations and text convey the aesthetic and emotional experience of loss? The authors review picture books that have been published about death from 2001 to 2011. They also closely analyze three books that span a range of topics and approaches to death.
The authors found that picture books geared towards children do convey important psychological issues, in addition to cultural issues, through the text and illustrations. The authors assert that if we are able to understand the literary and psychological features of the picture books, we can better understand how they can help children with their understandings and expressions of grief, and how to appropriately incorporate such texts within the grieving process.
This article is interesting for many reasons. For one instance, it shows that there are existing tools and resources that are not only educational, but accessible. However, representation of grief can be problematic in some ways, as children might not understand what is being shown unless they have experienced something similar in their own lives. This study is nice in that it provides us with a multidisciplinary approach, and considered literary, psychological, socio-cultural, and developmental processes that impact not only the reception of the text, but the response to it. As a tool, these picture books could provide an effective way in teaching children how to safely articulate and express their grief.
 
Backett-Milburn, K. , & Jackson, S. (2012). Children’s concerns about their parents’ health and well-being: Researching with ChildLine Scotland. Children & Society, 26(5), 381-393.
 
Backett-Milburn and Jackson’s article is a report that discusses the collaborative research that has been conducted in regards to ChildLine Scotland. Childline Scotland is a free telephone counseling service. It is also confidential. The authors focused their reportage over the children’s phone calls about the health of their parents, and their well-being, and how these parental instances have impacted the children’s lives.
The authors found that certain trends emerged within the multi-layered calls to ChildLine. In these instances, multiple issues and problems were discussed. Problems included alcohol misuse, drug misuse, domestic violence, depression, familial relationships, mental health issues/illnesses, and grief/bereavement. The authors then discuss how children make sense of these multi-layered experiences, and how familial circumstances impact how the children try to get by. The authors also look at questions of whose help the children valued as well.
The study is helpful because it looks at the role of agency the children have in their own lives, especially in regards to grief and grief management. While this article does mention grief, it is only one aspect of a plethora of problems the children call into to report. This study not only shows the difficult home lives that many children emerge from, but also the context in which grief, if it occurs, does take place. The proactive nature of a helpline also emphasizes the recognition from the child of how their situation needs to be improved. If the helpline encourages open communication, then it may be an excellent resource to train patients and emerging scholars/practitioners in the field.
Lichtenthal, W. , Currier, J. , Neimeyer, R. , & Keesee, N. (2010). Sense and significance: A mixed methods examination of meaning making after the loss of one’s child. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 66(7), 791.
 
Lichtenthal et al used a mixed methods study to identify specific themes within meaning making among bereaved parents, in addition to examining the associations of these themes with the severity of grief symptoms. The authors view meaning making as a way for the bereaved to make sense or find benefit within the frame of the loss. The authors sampled 156 bereaved parents, who responded by writing answers to open-ended questions about meaning making. They assessed grief symptoms by using the Core Bereavement Items and maladaptive grief symptoms with the Inventory of Complicated Grief instruments.
The authors found that 45% of the sample could not make sense of their loss, and 21% could not identify that emerged from their loss. Thirty-two distinct approaches to finding meaning in their child’s death were discussed by parents, with fourteen involving sense making, and eighteen involving themes of benefit finding. There was a spirituality and religious beliefs ideologies in sense making strategies, with the most common benefit-finding themes showed a desire to help with the suffering of others.
This study is interesting as it shows ways parents view grief, and how they try to cope with the loss. If the benefit finding and sense making strategies can be adequately understood, they can be used as tools and resources to help others that had more maladaptive problems. It is also interesting to note the role religion plays in this as well.
 
Shields, L., Zappia, T., Blackwood, D., Watkins, R., Wardrop, J., & Chapman, R. (2012). Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Parents Seeking Health Care for Their Children: A Systematic Review of the Literature. Worldviews On Evidence-Based Nursing,9(4), 200-209. doi:10.1111/j.1741-6787.2012.00251.x
The authors note that few studies have examined the issues faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)-parented families in relation to their access to and satisfaction with healthcare services for their children. Apparently the predominant thought is that LGBT individuals have experienced negative interactions and experiences within the healthcare environment. The authors decided to systematically review the literature that investigates the experience of LGBT parents seeking health care for their children. The authors searched the following databases: Cochrane Library, CINAHL, Embase, Google Scholar, Medline, PsychInfo, Science Direct, Sociological Abstracts, Proquest, Scopus, and Web of Science.
The authors then turned to the PRISMA flow chart and processes of the United Kingdom Centre for Reviews and Dissemination to help select and analyze relevant studies. The authors found that four studies met the inclusion criteria. The authors determined that the four studies showed that while the experience of LGBT parents seeking health care was largely positive, strategies need to be implemented to improve the quality of healthcare services for LGBT families. It is important to ensure that their needs are met. The authors conclude that specific educational interventions are needed to support LGBT parents seeking health care for their children. While I have used other articles by these authors, this one is particularly helpful as it illustrates their process. As scholars and clinicians it is important to evaluate other research and critique it so we may strive to achieve further understanding within our own works.
 
Chapman, R., Zappia, T., & Shields, L. (2012). An essay about health professionals’ attitudes to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender parents seeking healthcare for their children. Scandinavian Journal Of Caring Sciences, 26(2), 333-339. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6712.2011.00938.x
This essay is about health professionals’ attitudes to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender parents seeking healthcare for their children. The authors note that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) clients can be reluctant to reveal their sexual orientation to health professionals from whom they may be seeking health care for their children. Family-centered care (FCC) is widely utilized across the world, but care delivery can be compromised if respect isn’t given to all members of the family, which can occur in families with LGBT members. The authors discuss the use of health services by LGBT parents, how  health care is influenced by the perceptions of LGBT people by health care providers, and examines factors that impact subsequent health care.
The authors show that LGBT individuals may be unwilling to disclose their sexual identity to health care professionals when obtaining health care for children. Health professional’s attitudes can be affected by factors such as gender, age, religious and political affiliations, education level and previous interactions with LGBT people. The authors conclude that all parents, even those who are homosexual or a sexual minority, need supportive FCC, and FCC will only be supportive if sexuality is not an obstacle. This article is very similar to another article I examined, but it has some differences. Both are inherently the same, which shows that models and implications for these issues are similar worldwide and that all members of the family must be respected.
 
Toomey, R. B., Ryan, C., Diaz, R. M., Card, N. A., & Russell, S. T. (2013). Gender-nonconforming lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth: School victimization and young adult psychosocial adjustment. Psychology Of Sexual Orientation And Gender Diversity, 1(S), 71-80. doi:10.1037/2329-0382.1.S.71
The authors note that past research documents that both gender nonconformity and experience of adolescents of school victimization are associated with high rates of negative psycho-social adjustments.
The authors used data from the Family Acceptance Project’s young adult survey. They examined associations among retrospective reports of adolescent gender nonconformity and adolescent school victimization. This victimization and abuse was due to perceived or actual lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) status. Additionally, current reports of life satisfaction and depression were looked at.
The participants the authors sampled included 245 LGBT young adults. They ranged in age from 21 to 25 years. The authors used structural equation modeling (SEM), and they found that victimization due to perceived or actual LGBT status fully negotiates, mediates, and interferes with the association between adolescent gender nonconformity and young adult psychosocial adjustment. This includes life satisfaction and depression. Several implications are addressed by the authors. Some of these include specific strategies that schools can implement to provide safer environments for gender-nonconforming LGBT students.
This article is great because it addresses something very important: perceived status. An individual who may be heteronormative can be perceived as LGBT and they face consequences because of that. These students need support to, as it will probably alter their viewpoints of gays.
 
Fineran, K. (2012). Helping foster and adopted children to grieve the loss of birthparents: A case study example. Family Journal, 20(4), 369.
 
Fineran notes that there are numerous challenges to be found for children and adolescents that are in foster care programs or systems in regards to the loss of a biological parent. This loss can also include the termination of parental rights, and can be expressed at any stage of the termination process. These situations are especially challenging for counselors.
The author notes that children and youths that are in these situations can often struggle with issues of identity and feelings. Often, questions and expressions of identification, conflicting feelings, and grief emerge as a complex result that stems from the absence of apparent or parents, especially when coupled with the introduction or reorientation to a new life in a new family.
The author turns to a case study and documents stages of grief suggested by Kübler-Ross in addition to the tasks of mourning suggested by Worden. The author concludes with practical applications and interventions that should be considered. This article is interesting, as it also does not limit discussions of grief to death. While children can find themselves in foster home due to the death of a parent, they can also experience a loss by having to be removed from the custody of their birthparents. They not only can lose their parents, but their own identity in relationship to the parents. The concept of mourning is important here, especially when the various traumas and non-normative difficulties these youths must face to have to be placed into foster home. Loss comes in many forms beyond death, and the field of family studies must work to acknowledge ways to help mitigate and resolve these trajectories of loss.
 
Budge, S. L., Adelson, J. L., & Howard, K. S. (2013). Anxiety and Depression in Transgender Individuals: The Roles of Transition Status, Loss, Social Support, and Coping. Journal Of Consulting And Clinical Psychology, 81(3), 545-557.
The authors write about anxiety and depression in transgendered individuals. More specifically, the authors seek to examine facilitative and avoidant coping as mediations between distress and transition status. This also includes social support and loss. The authors sampled 351 transgender individuals who participated in the authors’ study. The participants completed measures on transgender identity which also include family history of mental health concerns, perceptions of loss, coping, depression, and anxiety.
The authors found that the rates of depressive symptoms and anxiety highly surpass the rates of those for the general population. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the data. Two separate models were hypothesized, which were based on reports of anxiety or depression. The authors found that the processes for transgender women and transgender men are primarily similar for depression and anxiety. Additionally, avoidant coping served as a mediator between transition status and both distress variables.
The authors determined that social support was directly related to distress variables, and that practices that reduce avoidant coping strategies should be implemented by clinicians. Social support must also be improved so mental health for transgender individuals is consequently improved. There are different coping strategies for people at different parts of the transition process. This article fits my research well, especially that the process of transition is considered. You cannot label singular coping strategies for this group because “trans” is such a fluid concept, and the people are in flux and this cope in different ways.
 
Moody, C. (2013). Suicide Protective Factors Among Trans Adults. Archives Of Sexual Behavior, 42(5), 739. doi:10.1007/s10508-013-0099-8
The author, Moody, notes that a recent study indicated that there is a suicide attempt rate of 41 % among trans, transgender, transexual/transsexual, genderqueer, two-spirited individuals. While this rate is noticeable, there is a lack of education materials and literature on trans suicide prevention. The author notes that a vital step in developing suicide prevention models is the identification of protective factors. The author hypothesizes that social support from friends, social support from family, optimism, reasons for living, and suicide resilience, which are known to protect CIS (non-trans) individuals, also protects trans individuals. A study was conducted using a sample of self-identified trans Canadian adults that were recruited from LGBT and trans LISTSERVs, using an online secure survey platform. The author also used a three block hierarchical multiple regression model to predict suicidal behavior from protective factors.
The author found that support from friends, social support from family, and optimism significantly and negatively predict 33 % of variance in participants’ suicidal behavior after controlling for age. Additionally, the author found that reasons for living and suicide resilience accounted for an additional 19 % of the variables in participants’ suicidal