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INTRODUCTION
For some years now, helping professionals have been aware of the process of grief as experienced by persons suffering loss. As early as 1944, Erich Lindemann described this process and identified management techniques for use by professionals from whom grieving persons might seek help. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross (1971) began her study with dying patients in 1965 and published her well-known work listing the five stages of grief. In recent years, traditionally considered losses have ranged from the obvious (death, terminal illness, loss of a limb, birth of a congenitally deformed child) to the loss experienced by persons trying to give up smoking.
During the 1970s, there were numerous riots by inmate populations in our country's prisons arising out of their demand for better health care (Goldsmith, 1972; The Status of, 1974). Prison health care has become a real issue today as evidenced by class action suits brought by inmates who feel that inadequate health care constitutes cruel and unusual punishment (Chaisson, 1981). Articles have been published in professional journals indicating that these demands have brought about some role changes for the nurses in these correctional settings (Little, 1981; AMA, 1973). Formerly thought of only as the "pill pushers" and "first aid givers," nurses today are finding themselves serving as inmate advocates, counselors, and group therapists for clients within prison systems Little, 1981). Perhaps the nurse in the prison is finding that these clients, like those having lost a limb or a loved one, are suffering loss and that, as a supporter, the nurse's role includes guiding inmates through "grief work."
Gresham Sykes (1958) indicates two major losses that an incarcerated individual faces are prolonged material deprivation and lack of heterosexual relationships. A more recent study by Jean Rotter (1978) lists separation from children as the primary loss suffered by women. These, of course, are only a few of the numerous losses suffered by inmates. The following case study enumerates other losses experienced by one particular female inmate, and describes the nurse's approach which helped her in her adjustment to life in prison.
CASE STUDY
Background
At 16, a pretty, popular young woman became pregnant, married, and moved her trailer into her parents' yard. In the years that followed, the young woman grew older but, as...