Positive and negative changes following occupational death exposure
Abstract
Professionals who work in situations that expose them to death have long been of interest to traumatic stress research. However, the positive changes that these professionals may also experience have not been the subject of empirical scrutiny. This study examined occupational death exposure, death attitudes, subjective appraisals, intrusions, avoidance, social support, and positive and negative affect, and their associations with positive and negative psychological changes in funeral directors. Multivariate hierarchical regression analyses revealed that positive changes were significantly and independently predicted by an approach acceptance death attitude and social support; negative changes were significantly and independently predicted by fear of death, intrusions and avoidance, and occupational death exposure. The discussion focuses on how these findings extend the literature dealing with occupational death exposure, together with a consideration of limitations of the study that inform directions for future research.
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Personal growth reflects that individuals have intrinsic motivation for positive growth and will seek to implement effective ways to cope with trauma and adversity.
“On the other hand, personal growth reflects that individuals have intrinsic motivation for positive growth and will seek to implement effective ways to cope with trauma and adversity (39, 40).”
From Prevalence and Psychosocial Correlates of Mental Health Outcomes Among Chinese College Students During the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic (2020) · cites this paper as [39]
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Linley, P. A., & Joseph, S.
- Affiliations
- University of Leicester (GB)
- University of Warwick (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Linley, P. Alex
- ORCID
- Joseph, Stephen
- Venue
- Journal of Traumatic Stress
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2005
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 751-758
- ISSN
- 0894-9867 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-6598
- OpenAlex
- W2073455220
- Cited by
- 53
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 3 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 2.70
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Traumatic Stress (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Warwick
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Death, Funerary Practices, and Mourning
- Keywords
- undertakers, attitudes toward death, fear of death, intrusive memories, avoidance, social support, positive affect, negative affect, traumatic stress, occupational injuries
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Attitude to Death, Death, Female, United Kingdom, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Regression Analysis, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Multivariate Analysis, Occupational Exposure, Sex Distribution
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