The authors conducted a controlled study in which families who had
experienced the sudden death of a family member were given crisis
intervention services and compared at follow-up with two untreated control
groups. Results did not support the hypothesis that such services decrease
the risk of psychiatric illness, disturbed family functioning, or increased
social cost to the families. The authors suggest that environmental and
social systems factors and individual variables are powerful predictors of
outcome in bereavement.Abstract Teaser