Crisis intervention: effects of crisis intervention on family survivors of sudden death situations.

A controlled study that examined the effects of a short-term crisis service given to a group of families recently bereaved through a sudden death within the family is reported. The results reveal that sudden death does have a major impact on recently bereaved families in terms of increased risk of ill health, poor coping behavior, and disturbed social functioning when compared to nonbereaved families. However, the short-term crisis service appeared to have no major impact upon postbereavement adjustment. Discussion centered around possible reasons for failure of the short-term crisis services.