What Do People Really Think About Grief Counselling?

To understand why bereaved people who are highly distressed significantly underutilize grief counselling and therapy, we surveyed adults (N = 156) to investigate community attitudes towards grief counselling. Overall attitude was positive and women reported a significantly more positive attitude than men; there were no associations between attitude and age, country of birth, previous counselling or bereavement experience. After controlling for gender, beliefs and affects explained attitudes towards grief counselling; behavioural responses did not. Targeting beliefs about grief counselling may promote positive attitudes so that people most likely to benefit from intervention will be more likely to seek it.