A model for supporting grief recovery following traumatic loss: The Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS)
Research Report:
Research SummaryAPA Citation:
Dooley, C. M., Carroll, B., Fry, L. E., Seamon-Lahiff, G., & Bartone, P. T. (2019). A model for supporting grief recovery following traumatic loss: The Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS). Military Medicine, 184(7-8), 166 – 170. https://doi.org/10.1093/milmed/usz084
Abstract Created by REACH:
The purpose of the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) is to provide free, professional expertise and support for families who have experienced a military death. A key component of TAPS is its peer support approach, in which volunteers who have experienced a military death are trained to facilitate healthy grief recovery in survivors. This article reviews the bereavement care model of grief recovery, which was created to train volunteers with TAPS and assist those who are grieving. This model consists of three phases: stabilization (i.e., helping survivors feel secure), hopeful reappraisal (i.e., managing the loss and reframing the future), and positive integration (i.e., living a meaningful life without the loved one). For each phase, goals are identified that are theorized to assist in progressing through grief. The goals can be achieved through the completion of a variety of TAPS programs.
Focus:
Children
Mental health
Parents
Programming
Trauma
Youth
Branch of Service:
Air Force
Army
Coast Guard
Marine Corps
Navy
Multiple branches
Population:
Childhood (birth - 12 yrs)
Preschool age (2 -5 yrs)
School age (6 - 12 yrs)
Adolescence (13 - 17 yrs)
Adulthood (18 yrs & older)
Young adulthood (18 - 29 yrs)
Thirties (30 - 39 yrs)
Middle age (40 - 64 yrs)
Aged (65 yrs & older)
Methodology:
Commentary
Theoretical Article
Authors:
Dooley, Chantel M., Carroll, Bonnie, Fry, Laura E., Seamon-Lahiff, Grace, Bartone, Paul T.
Abstract:
The article offers information on a model and program that have been used successfully to assist military family members who experience the sudden death of a military member. It mentions the different U.S. military branches do provide a variety of support services for survivors; and also providing useful theoretical perspective, characterizing the grief process in terms of three phases including avoidance, confrontation, and accommodation.
Publisher/Sponsoring Organization:
Oxford University Press
Publication Type:
Article
REACH Publication
Author Affiliation:
Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, CMD
Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, BC
Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, LEF
Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, GSL
Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University, PTB
Keywords:
attitudes toward death, complicated grief, despair, grief, human services programs, mathmatical models, post-traumatic stress disorder, survivors, theory, treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, twin anemia-polycythemia sequence
REACH Publication Type:
Research Summary
REACH Newsletter: