A study of barbadian school personnel attitudes on coping with grief in the public schools

Public school personnel are in a unique position to assist grieving childre n, however preparation to meet this need is not typically included in teach er training and only minimally in counsellor training. This study replicate d a previous study (Reid and Dixon, 1999) with US teachers which was a repl ication of a study conducted with a sample of early childhood teachers (Pra tt et al., 1987) while also including the 'Death Attitude Profile - Revised (DAP-R)' (Wong et al., 1994). With a sample collected in Barbados, West In dies, this study established school personnel attitudes toward death and dy ing and their self-perceived ability to assist grieving students. The findi ngs are compared with the findings from the original study by Pratt et al. (1987), the findings of Reid and Dixon (1999), along with norms for the DAP -R established by Wong et al. (1994). The findings indicate the need and de sire for further preparation for Barbadian school personnel in dealing with bereaved children.