Grief Counselling and Bereavement Management Among Adolescents Who Lost Parents to COVID-19 in Imo State

This study evaluates the effectiveness of grief counselling interventions in supporting bereaved adolescents who lost parents to COVID-19-related illness in Imo State, South East Nigeria. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a significant number of parental deaths in Nigerian urban centres, creating a cohort of adolescent survivors with acute grief and compounded vulnerability profiles. This research employed a quasi-experimental design and recruited 88 adolescents aged 12 to 18 years who had lost at least one parent to COVID-19 between 2020 and 2022, identified through community health registries in Owerri and Orlu. Participants received a structured 10-session grief counselling programme based on Worden's Tasks of Mourning model, delivered individually and in group formats. Grief severity, depression, and resilience were assessed pre- and post-intervention using the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief, the Beck Depression Inventory for Youth, and the Child and Youth Resilience Measure. Results indicate significant reductions in grief severity and depressive symptoms following the programme, with group format participants demonstrating greater improvements in social reconnection. The study provides timely evidence for the effectiveness of grief counselling in post-pandemic contexts and recommends that mental health professionals in Imo State be trained in bereavement-specific protocols to address the lingering developmental needs of pandemic-orphaned adolescents. Keywords: grief counselling, bereavement, COVID-19, adolescents, Imo State.