Parental Bereavement Study Among Couples Coping Traumatic Loss of a Child

1. Develop a treatment for clinically significant parental bereavement. The proposed treatment development activities include: 1. Development of a treatment manual, associated fidelity rating forms, and training aids, 2. Pre-testing the treatment manual with bereaved parents, and revision in consultation with treatment development experts, 2. Conduct a randomized, wait-list control, pilot study of the proposed treatment: 1. Measure treatment-related change in (a) complicated grief symptoms, the primary outcome variable, which will be assessed using the Inventory of Complicated Grief, and, (b) marital adjustment, the secondary outcome measure, to be assessed using the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. These outcomes will be assessed in treatment and control groups at baseline, at treatment conclusion, and at three month follow-up. 2. Test the difference between the treatment and control groups on changes from baseline to three month follow-up on the exploratory outcome variables of PTSD, depression, social and work impairment, and quality of life 3. Estimate effect sizes of these differences in changes in outcomes 3. Develop a proposal for a randomized controlled trial of the treatment, based on the results of aim 2.