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My name is Natasha Fitzgerald-Yau and I am a graduate student at the Anna Freud Centre, University College London. I am conducting a study that will explore the effects of parental loss on the inner world and emotional adjustment of young children. I hope that this project will lead to a better understanding of how to help children understand and cope with parental loss. I hope you will consider particiapting. Many people find it positive talking to a person outside of their own network and rewarding that their participation might help other people in the same situation.

If you and your child choose to participate in this study you will be invited to complete a few questionnaires separately. You will then be asked to participate in one interview and your child in another. If you wish, I can show you the questionnaire that will be given to your child prior to their interview. I will conduct both interviews. You will be asked several questions regarding the loss of your husband/wife and how you and your family are coping with this grief. The interview will take approximately 1 hour.

Your child will be given a questionnaire to fill out, they will be asked a few general questions and then they will be invited to respond to a set of story stems. Story-stems consist of incomplete narratives which the child is invited to complete. Stem Assessment Profile (SSAP) will enable me to assess the child’s perceptions of attachments and previous relations divorced parent without asking the child direct questions about a sensitive subject which may cause them anxiety or distress. I will also ask the child to paint or draw a picture for me. Expression through art is a personal, unique statement that can contain conscious and unconscious meaning. A picture can often reveal a lot about a child’s inner self, their thoughts and fantasy life.

Responses collected will form the basis of my research project and will be put into a written report on an anonymous basis. You will be assigned a random numerical code. Therefore, anyone who helps me to transcribe responses will only know you by this code.

This study has been approved by the University College London Ethics Committee. When the study is complete, a short report will be available to interested parent/guardians at Grief Encounters or if you would like any feedback, I can give you a short summary of the findings. I sincerely appreciate your co-operation. For more information regarding this study, please contact by emailing at natasha_yau@yahoo.co.uk.