Background
Engaging in values-based behaviour is considered a mechanism for enhancing wellbeing and life-meaning within Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, with valued-living reflecting the extent an individual lives congruently with their chosen values in daily-life. Little is known about how valued-living might be different for people experiencing bereavement as compared to those not bereaved.
Hypotheses/Research Questions
We aimed to investigate whether typically-valued domains of life differed between people who had experienced bereavement in the past 5-years and those not bereaved.
Sample Characteristics and Sample Size
As part of a Massive-Open-Online-Course about death, n=257 students provided bereavement-status information and completed an activity about valued-living. The sample were predominantly female, aged 40+, university-educated, and residing in Australia, and 76% were bereaved.
Design
In this cross-sectional descriptive study, participants self-reported their socio-demographic characteristics, and completed the Valued-Living Questionnaire, on which participants rated the importance of 10 life-domains, and how consistently they have acted in accord with each valued life domain in the past-week.
Results
Importance ratings by bereaved and non-bereaved participants were similar for the life-domains of parenting, employment, education, recreation, spirituality, community-life, and physical-wellbeing. However, bereaved participants ranked family-relations, couple-relations, and friendship/social-relations significantly higher on importance than non-bereaved participants. Consistency ratings by bereaved and non-bereaved participants were similar, but bereaved participants had significantly higher family-relations composite scores, meaning those bereaved were more inclined to live-out their family-related values in their everyday behaviour.
Scientific Contribution
Given bereaved individuals rated family-relations as more important, and reported living their lives more greatly in-line with this valued domain of living, this might have implications for approaches to grief support and meaning reconstruction following bereavement. Bereavement may alter how a person makes meaning from life, and necessitate adaptation of worldviews, values and behaviour. Engaging in value-based action in the family-relations domain of life may be beneficial.