6 point question

Study on grief trajectories and long-term health after bereavement

from Heart disease lecture (final)

• Prospective cohort study in Denmark that followed bereaved adults for 10 years (before loss, 6 months after, long-term follow-up)

• Used prolonged grief scale (e.g., meaninglessness, functional impairment)

• Key finding:

  • Higher grief = higher mortality

  • Low grief → 7.3% died

  • High grief → 21.5% died

why its important/interesting: Study on grief trajectories and long-term health after bereavement

• Seen grief a lot in my own life + others

• People cope very differently → fits trajectories idea

• Some recover, others stay “stuck” in grief

• Important for society:

  • Shows need to support prolonged grief

  • Could reduce long-term health risks + death

Incongruent norms in health promotion (from health promotion/midterm 2)

from Health promotion lecture (Midterm 2)

• Study: campus booth, messaging changed hourly

• Conditions:

  • Low descriptive norm (“few people register”) → 23%

  • High injunctive norm (“many people think we should”) → 18%

  • Combined → 33.6% (highest)

    • "very many people think we should, but very few people actually are donors"

• Why it works:

  • Increases personal responsibility → more action

Why its important: Combined injunctive + descriptive norms in health promotion

• Shows messaging can strongly change behavior

• Personally: more likely to act when I feel responsible

• Matches my own experience

• Important for public health:

  • Simple way to increase organ donation

  • Can be applied to other behaviors (e.g., health, voting)

  • Big impact at population level