UNDERSTANDING THE PSYCHOSOCIAL SEQUELAE OF THE MURDER OF A GRANDPARENT/CAREGIVER: CASES OF JAMAICAN SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN

While the area of trauma and recovery in adults has received significant scholarly attention, there is a paucity of literature, both conceptual and empirical, addressing the impact of extreme traumatic events on the coping capacity of school-age children. Even less studied is the role of various individual, social, and cultural factors in mitigating the impact of emotional onslaughts of such magnitude as murder on the social and emotional functioning of children. This article is based on case reports of five children 6-12 years old who suffered traumatic loss of a grandparent/caregiver due to homicide by a non-family member. It delineates the children's psychological, behavioral, and academic responses and outcomes within a risk and resiliency framework and discusses the role of the school context with an eye to formulating effective interventions.