A Mixed Methods Examination of the Process of Spiritual Change in Life after the Homicide of a Loved One

Background and Purpose: The surviving loved ones of homicide victims (i.e. homicide survivors) comprise an overlooked group of trauma survivors that commonly experiences complicated bereavement and a variety of mental health conditions. Grief interventions are ill-suited to the traumatic nature of homicide. There is a need for researchers to investigate homicidal grief specifically, and to focus on enhancing services to the homicide survivor population. This study focused on spiritual change (SC) in life after homicide. SC is common among homicide survivors and has well-documented implications for well-being. Despite its importance, SC has garnered minimal research attention and is poorly understood.

Methods: This study employed a sequential exploratory mixed methods approach. Constructivist grounded theory was used in phase 1 of the study for the purpose of explicating a mid-range theory of the process of SC after homicide. A survey methodology was used in phase 2 for the purpose of testing emerging theory. A sample of homicide survivors (N=112) was recruited through victim services organizations and media recruitment. Participants were enrolled in the study when they completed its web-based survey, which was devised based on a review of homicide survivorship literature. A grounded theory sub-sample (n=30) was selected based upon survey responses to measures of SC. Individual interviews focused on participants’ experiences of SC and were coded using procedures articulated by Charmaz (2006). The final emerging theory was used to guide the formulation of hypotheses for phase 2 of the study.

Findings:  Phase 1 was the crux of this study and yielded a three-stage process of SC after homicide. In stage 1, the homicide launched participants into a process of disintegrating that entailed an unravelling of one’s sense of identity and meaning system. Disintegrating was characterized by living in a state of shock. Participants transitioned into stage 2 when this state of shock lifted and an unresolved crisis of meaning remained. They then began reckoning, a process that consisted of grappling with existential questions and that was marked by living in a state of stuckness. Stage 3 began once participants set aside intensive questioning and engaged in recreating and reintegrating the self, an active process that generated forward movement and was characterized by living in a state of renewal. Importantly, some phase 2 findings corroborated emerging theory, while other survey findings challenged grounded theory observations. The implications of this are addressed below.

Conclusion and Implications: Phase 1 of this study generated in-depth insights into the individual experiences of homicide survivors that can be used to enhance services for the homicide survivor population.  By articulating process, phase 1 also provided the foundations for intervention research. Phase 2 enabled the testing of grounded theory observations among a larger sample of survivors. Given the fledgling nature of homicide survivorship research, the survey component of the study was critically important both for validating emerging theory, and for guiding the identification of questions that remain unclear and require further research attention.