COPING WITH ANTICIPATORY GRIEF: AN ACTIVITY BOOK FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN

Abstract

In the United States over 10% of adults have some form of dementia, and this diagnosis is often associated with anticipatory grief in both the sufferer and their loved ones. Anticipatory grief is the grief that comes before death, and it is often associated with the anticipation of death. In the case of dementia, there is often a steady decline in the health and cognition of the sufferer, creating a unique grieving process. In this project, I focused on the anticipatory grief that primary school-age children face with a loved one's diagnosis. I used a literature review to analyze data and create a book with an activity section aimed at aiding the processing of grief. After the book was compiled, it was reviewed by a variety of experts within the field. They found the book to be both a successful tool for children to begin the grief process and also accessible to the majority of education levels.