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. 2025 Dec;16(1):2529743.
doi: 10.1080/20008066.2025.2529743. Epub 2025 Jul 30.

Terror-bereaved parents experiences of professional help and support: a qualitative analysis

Anita Fjærestad  1 , Signe Hjelen Stige  2 , Atle Dyregrov  1 , Pål Kristensen  1
Affiliations

Terror-bereaved parents experiences of professional help and support: a qualitative analysis

Anita Fjærestad et al. Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2025 Dec.

Abstract
in English, Spanish

ABSTRACTBackground: After the loss of a child, bereaved parents typically experience profound grief and face an increased risk of both physical and mental health challenges. Research shows that bereaved parents need support, but there is limited knowledge on their experiences with receiving help.Objective: To explore how bereaved parents following the 2011 Utøya terror attack have experienced the help they have received.Method: Bereaved parents (n = 22) were interviewed nine years post loss. The interview guide had questions about their experiences with grief and trauma, the impact of other life events and their experience of professional help. Interviews were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.Results: Participants' experiences were found to represent three different pathways: (1) Receiving help, but not feeling helped, (2) Securing the help they needed and (3) Feeling left alone - mismatch between the help received and the help needed. Across all pathways, participants described helpful meetings with professionals, constructed as the cross-cutting theme: 'Seen but gently challenged'.Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that bereaved parents are not a homogenous group, which emphasises the need for individualised interventions. Although most parents appear to have received some form of professional support, it was not always proactive or continuous. As a result, some parents struggled to access the right help when they needed it. Those who did manage to secure appropriate support were often those with the resources to seek it out. Although our data do not fully clarify which factors influence this disparity, it is evident that across all pathways, parents reported positive interactions with professionals. The issue, therefore, seems less about the competence of helpers and more about ensuring access to this expertise. However, the current study also reveals that some bereaved individuals lacked access to the right type of help, while others were unable to utilise the help.

Antecedentes: Tras la pérdida de un hijo, los padres en duelo suelen experimentar una profunda aflicción y se enfrentan a un mayor riesgo de sufrir problemas de salud física y mental. Las investigaciones demuestran que los padres en duelo necesitan ayuda y apoyo, pero existe un conocimiento limitado sobre cómo dicha ayuda es experimentada.

Objetivo: Explorar en profundidad cómo los padres en duelo tras el atentado terrorista de Utøya en el 2011, han experimentado la ayuda y el apoyo profesional que han recibido.

Métodos: Se entrevistó a padres en duelo (n = 22) nueve años después de la pérdida. La guía de entrevista incluía preguntas sobre sus experiencias con el duelo y el trauma, el impacto de otros eventos vitales y su experiencia con la ayuda y el tratamiento profesional. Las entrevistas se analizaron mediante análisis temático reflexivo.

Resultados: La experiencia de los participantes con el apoyo profesional representó tres vías diferentes: (1) Recibir ayuda, pero no sentirse ayudado, (2) Asegurar la ayuda que necesitaban y (3) Sentirse abandonados – falta de coincidencia entre la ayuda recibida y la ayuda necesitada. En las tres vías, los participantes describieron sus experiencias de encuentros útiles con profesionales, construidos como el tema transversal: ‘Visto, pero gentilmente desafiado’.

Conclusión: Nuestros hallazgos demuestran que los padres en duelo no son un grupo homogéneo, lo que enfatiza la necesidad de intervenciones individualizadas. Si bien la mayoría de los padres parecen haber recibido algún tipo de apoyo profesional, este apoyo no siempre fue proactivo, ni continuo. Como resultado, algunos padres tuvieron dificultades para acceder a la ayuda adecuada cuando la necesitaron. Quienes lograron obtener el apoyo adecuado a menudo fueron aquellos con los recursos personales para buscarlo. Si bien nuestros datos no aclaran completamente qué factores influyen en esta disparidad, es evidente que, en las tres trayectorias, los padres informaron interacciones positivas con los proveedores de apoyo. Por lo tanto, el problema parece estar menos relacionado en la competencia de quienes ayudan y más en asegurar un acceso equitativo a esta experiencia para todos los padres en duelo. Sin embargo, el estudio actual también revela que algunas personas en duelo carecían de acceso al tipo adecuado de ayuda, mientras que otras no pudieron utilizar la ayuda que recibieron.

Keywords: Bereavement; Padres en duelo; aflicción; ayuda profesional; bereaved parents; duelo; grief; professional help; terrorism; terrorismo.

Plain language summary

Many bereaved parents describe a need for professional help and support nine years post loss.Bereaved parents report a range of experiences with the help and support they received and are not a homogenous group. Findings underscore the need for individualised interventions tailored to their unique needs.Early outreach, combined with flexibility and long-term help may alleviate symptoms and improve functioning for bereaved parents over time.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Participants reports of whom they have received help from.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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