Faculty Profiles

Heather L. Servaty-Seib leads the grief and loss research team, which aims to conduct research that will assist society (e.g., service professionals, friends, family) in gaining a better understanding of the idiosyncratic experiences of grieving individuals. It is important to note that the team defines loss in a broad way (Harvey, 2001; Murray, 2015). Loss is a construct that traditionally applies to death losses, but can also be applied to many other challenging life experiences (e.g., college graduation, educational transition, divorce and romantic breakups). Grief, therefore, entails the multidimensional responses individuals experience following death and non-death losses (Corr & Corr , 2007).

Within this focus on grief, the team’s current empirical work is targeted toward addressing the interpersonal challenges faced by grieving individuals; including the interpersonal and communication distance/gap that often exists between grieving individuals and society.

Adolescent/College Student Bereavement; Support and Communication in the Grieving Process; Loss/Gain Impacts of Life Events.

Research interests include a broad range of areas within the field of thanatology (i.e., the study of death and dying) with particular emphasis on late adolescent/young adult grief, death and dying-related communication issues, and social support offered to the bereaved. In addition, Dr. Servaty-Seib’s research team focuses on a variety of non-death loss experiences (e.g., divorce, romantic breakup, sports injury) and has developed the Perceived Impact of Life Events Scale, an instrument that uses a gain/loss approach to assessing the multidimensional impact of single life events.

Research Team (currently not admitting doctoral students at this time)

Selected Publications

(underlining indicates student co-authors)

• Lin, Y., Servaty-Seib, H. L., & Peterson, J. (in press). Child sexual abuse survivors’ grief experiences after the death of the abuser. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying.
• Liew, C. H., & Servaty-Seib, H. L. (in press). College students’ feedback regarding a student bereavement leave policy. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice.
• Servaty-Seib, H. L., & Liew, C. H. (2019). Advocating for bereavement leave policies for college students. Journal of College Student Development, 60, 240-244.
• Servaty-Seib, H. L., Caldwell, J., & Nekvasil, S. (2018). Cancer-related health behaviors of college students: Cancer threat, family communication, and demographic factors. Health Behavior and Policy Review, 5, 100-112.
• Lockman, J. D., & Servaty-Seib, H. L. (2018). Testing the predictions of the Existential Constructivist Theory of Suicide in a college student sample. Journal of Counseling Psychology 65, 294–307.
• Aksoz, I., Erdur-Baker, O., & Servaty-Seib, H. L. (2018). Death rituals, religious beliefs, and grief of Turkish women. Death Studies, 42, 579-592.
• Trujillo, N., & Servaty-Seib, H. L. (2018). Parental absence and non-suicidal self-injury: Social support, social constraints, and sense-making. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 27, 1449-1459.
• Liew, C. H,, & Servaty-Seib, H. L. (2018). College student grief, grief differences, family communication, and family satisfaction. Death Studies, 42, 228-238.
• Cousins, C., Servaty-Seib, H. L., & Lockman, J. (2017). College student adjustment and coping for bereaved and non-bereaved college students. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 74, 386–409.
• Cupit, I. N., Servaty-Seib, H. L., Tedrick Parikh, S., Walker, A. C., & Martin, R. (2016). College and the grieving student: A mixed-method analysis. Death Studies, 40, 494-506.
• Servaty-Seib., H. L., Lockman, J., Shemwell, D., Reid Marks, L. (2016). International and domestic students, perceived burdensomeness, belongingness, and suicidal ideation. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 46(2), 141-153.
• Miller, K., & Servaty-Seib, H. L. (2016). First-year students’ loss experiences and institutional belongingness in the transition to college. Journal of the First Year Experience and Students in Transition, 28, 53-72.
• Lockman, J. D., & Servaty-Seib, H. L. (2016). College student suicidal ideation: Perceived burdensomeness, thwarted belongingness, and meaning reconstruction. Death Studies, 40, 154-164.
• Servaty-Seib, H. L., & Fajgenbaum, D. (Eds.). (2015). We get it: Voices of grieving college students and young adults. London, UK: Jessica Kingsley Publishing.
• Wachter Morris, C. A., Taub, D. J., Servaty-Seib, H. L., Lee, J.-Y., Miles, N., Werden, D., & Prieto-Welch, S. L. (2015). Expanding capacity for suicide prevention: The ALIVE @ Purdue train-the-trainers program. Journal of College Student Development, 56 (8), 861-866.
• Ploskonka, R. A., & Servaty-Seib, H. L. (2015). Belongingness and suicidal ideation in college students. Journal of American College Health, 63, 81-87.
• Servaty-Seib, H. L. (2014). Using a gain/loss framework to measure impact: The Perceived Impact of Life Event Scale. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 19, 331-354.
• Servaty-Seib, H. L., & Tedrick Parikh, S. (2014). Using service-learning to integrate death education into counselor preparation. Death Studies, 38, 194-202.
• Deatherage, S., Servaty-Seib, H. L., & Aksoz, I. (2014). Stress, coping, and internet use of college students. Journal of American College Health, 62, 40-46.

• EDPS 50000 — Human Relations in Groups
• EDPS 59000 — Individual Research Problem
• EDPS 60000 — Counseling Theories and Techniques
• EDPS 62400 — Advanced Counseling Practicum/Doctoral Off-site
• EDPS 69900 — Dissertation Research
• HONR 29900 — Death and Dying