IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i3p677-d311303.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Perceptions of the Use of Alcohol and Drugs after Sudden Bereavement by Unnatural Causes: Analysis of Online Qualitative Data

Author

Listed:
  • Lauren Drabwell

    (UCL Centre for Behaviour Change, Research Department of Clinical, Educational, and Health Psychology, University College London, 1-19 Torrington Place, London WC1E 7HB, UK)

  • Jessica Eng

    (UCL Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, 26 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AP, UK)

  • Fiona Stevenson

    (UCL Research Department of Primary Care & Population Health, Rowland Hill St, London NW3 2PF, UK)

  • Michael King

    (UCL Division of Psychiatry, Maple House, 149 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 7NF, UK
    Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust, St Pancras Hospital, London NW1 0PE, UK)

  • David Osborn

    (UCL Division of Psychiatry, Maple House, 149 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 7NF, UK
    Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust, St Pancras Hospital, London NW1 0PE, UK)

  • Alexandra Pitman

    (UCL Division of Psychiatry, Maple House, 149 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 7NF, UK
    Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust, St Pancras Hospital, London NW1 0PE, UK)

Abstract

Bereavement is associated with an increased risk of psychiatric morbidity and all-cause mortality, particularly in younger people and after unnatural deaths. Substance misuse is implicated but little research has investigated patterns of drug or alcohol use after bereavement. We used a national online survey to collect qualitative data describing whether and how substance use changes after sudden bereavement. We conducted thematic analysis of free-text responses to a question probing use of alcohol and drugs after the sudden unnatural (non-suicide) death of a family member or a close friend. We analysed data from 243 adults in British Higher Education Institutions aged 18–40, identifying two main themes describing post-bereavement alcohol or drug use: (1) sense of control over use of drugs or alcohol (loss of control versus self-discipline), (2) harnessing the specific effects of drugs or alcohol. Across themes we identified age patterning in relation to substance misuse as a form of rebellion among those bereaved in childhood, and gender patterning in relation to men using alcohol to help express their emotions. The limitations of our sampling mean that these findings may not be generalizable from highly-educated settings to young people in the general population. Our findings describe how some young bereaved adults use drugs and alcohol to help them cope with traumatic loss, and suggest how clinicians might respond to any difficulties controlling substance use.

Suggested Citation

  • Lauren Drabwell & Jessica Eng & Fiona Stevenson & Michael King & David Osborn & Alexandra Pitman, 2020. "Perceptions of the Use of Alcohol and Drugs after Sudden Bereavement by Unnatural Causes: Analysis of Online Qualitative Data," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-16, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:3:p:677-:d:311303
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/3/677/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/3/677/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elwert, F. & Christakis, N.A., 2008. "The effect of widowhood on mortality by the causes of death of both spouses," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 98(11), pages 2092-2098.
    2. Alexandra Pitman & Khadija Rantell & Louise Marston & Michael King & David Osborn, 2017. "Perceived Stigma of Sudden Bereavement as a Risk Factor for Suicidal Thoughts and Suicide Attempt: Analysis of British Cross-Sectional Survey Data on 3387 Young Bereaved Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-12, March.
    3. Jessica Eng & Lauren Drabwell & Fiona Stevenson & Michael King & David Osborn & Alexandra Pitman, 2019. "Use of Alcohol and Unprescribed Drugs after Suicide Bereavement: Qualitative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-12, October.
    4. Pitman, Alexandra L. & Stevenson, Fiona & Osborn, David P.J. & King, Michael B., 2018. "The stigma associated with bereavement by suicide and other sudden deaths: A qualitative interview study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 121-129.
    5. Shah, S.M. & Carey, I.M. & Harris, T. & DeWilde, S. & Victor, C.R. & Cook, D.G., 2013. "The effect of unexpected bereavement on mortality in older couples," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 103(6), pages 1140-1145.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lucía Moure-Rodríguez & Francisco Caamano-Isorna, 2020. "We Need to Delay the Age of Onset of Alcohol Consumption," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-6, April.
    2. Alexandra Pitman & Fiona Stevenson & David Osborn, 2022. "Investigating Whether Bereavement by Suicide and Other Unnatural Causes Has a Deterrent Effect on Alcohol or Drug Use in Young Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-11, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Valeriya Azorina & Nicola Morant & Hedvig Nesse & Fiona Stevenson & David Osborn & Michael King & Alexandra Pitman, 2019. "The Perceived Impact of Suicide Bereavement on Specific Interpersonal Relationships: A Qualitative Study of Survey Data," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-15, May.
    2. Eve Griffin & Selena O’Connell & Eimear Ruane-McAteer & Paul Corcoran & Ella Arensman, 2022. "Psychosocial Outcomes of Individuals Attending a Suicide Bereavement Peer Support Group: A Follow-Up Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-11, March.
    3. Anne Lise Holm & Elisabeth Severinsson & Astrid Karin Berland, 2019. "The Meaning of Bereavement Following Spousal Loss: A Qualitative Study of the Experiences of Older Adults," SAGE Open, , vol. 9(4), pages 21582440198, December.
    4. Espinosa, Javier & Evans, William N., 2013. "Maternal bereavement: The heightened mortality of mothers after the death of a child," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 371-381.
    5. Lorenza Entilli & Victoria Ross & Diego De Leo & Sabrina Cipolletta & Kairi Kõlves, 2021. "Experiences of Parental Suicide-Bereavement: A Longitudinal Qualitative Analysis over Two Years," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-12, January.
    6. Angel Marie Chater & Neil Howlett & Gillian W. Shorter & Julia K. Zakrzewski-Fruer & Jane Williams, 2022. "Reflections on Experiencing Parental Bereavement as a Young Person: A Retrospective Qualitative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-19, February.
    7. Gerard J. Berg & Petter Lundborg & Johan Vikström, 2017. "The Economics of Grief," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 127(604), pages 1794-1832, September.
    8. Gathmann, Christina & Huttunen, Kristiina & Jernström, Laura & Sääksvuori, Lauri & Stitzing, Robin, 2020. "In Sickness and in Health: Job Displacement and Health. Spillovers in Couples," Working Papers 133, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    9. Herbert J A Rolden & David van Bodegom & Rudi G J Westendorp, 2014. "Changes in Health Care Expenditure after the Loss of a Spouse: Data on 6,487 Older Widows and Widowers in the Netherlands," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(12), pages 1-17, December.
    10. Pilar Andrés-Olivera & Judit García-Aparicio & María Teresa Lozano López & José Antonio Benito Sánchez & Carmen Martín & Ana Maciá-Casas & Armando González-Sánchez & Miguel Marcos & Carlos Roncero, 2022. "Impact on Sleep Quality, Mood, Anxiety, and Personal Satisfaction of Doctors Assigned to COVID-19 Units," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-15, February.
    11. Hamermesh, Daniel S. & Myck, Michal & Oczkowska, Monika, 2021. "Widows' Time, Time Stress and Happiness: Adjusting to Loss," IZA Discussion Papers 14343, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Sara L Tamers & Cassandra Okechukwu & Alex A Bohl & Alice Guéguen & Marcel Goldberg & Marie Zins, 2014. "The Impact of Stressful Life Events on Excessive Alcohol Consumption in the French Population: Findings from the GAZEL Cohort Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(1), pages 1-8, January.
    13. Saisawat Samutpradit, 2024. "Surviving Loss: Coping Strategies among Widow Households in Thai Rural Areas," PIER Discussion Papers 213, Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research.
    14. Kira Henshaw & Corina Constantinescu & Olivier Menoukeu Pamen, 2020. "Stochastic Mortality Modelling for Dependent Coupled Lives," Risks, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-28, February.
    15. Lubens, Pauline & Silver, Roxane Cohen, 2019. "U.S. combat veterans’ responses to suicide and combat deaths: A mixed-methods study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 236(C), pages 1-1.
    16. Jovita Tan & Karl Andriessen, 2021. "The Experiences of Grief and Personal Growth in University Students: A Qualitative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-14, February.
    17. Yu-Chan Hung & Yong-Hsin Chen & Meng-Chih Lee & Chih-Jung Yeh, 2021. "Effect of Spousal Loss on Depression in Older Adults: Impacts of Time Passing, Living Arrangement, and Spouse’s Health Status before Death," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-12, December.
    18. Karen Galway & Trisha Forbes & Sharon Mallon & Olinda Santin & Paul Best & Jennifer Neff & Gerry Leavey & Alexandra Pitman, 2019. "Adapting Digital Social Prescribing for Suicide Bereavement Support: The Findings of a Consultation Exercise to Explore the Acceptability of Implementing Digital Social Prescribing within an Existing ," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-11, November.
    19. Simeonova, Emilia, 2013. "Marriage, bereavement and mortality: The role of health care utilization," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 33-50.
    20. Sharna Mathieu & Racquel Todor & Diego De Leo & Kairi Kõlves, 2022. "Coping Styles Utilized during Suicide and Sudden Death Bereavement in the First Six Months," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-14, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:3:p:677-:d:311303. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.