Losing a child: Finding meaning in bereavement.
- Autor(en)
- Julia Bogensperger, Brigitte Lueger-Schuster
- Abstrakt
Background: Confronting the loss of a loved one leads us to the core questions of human existence. Bereaved parents have to deal with the rupture of a widely shared concept of what is perceived to be the natural course of life and are forced into meaning reconstruction. Objective: This study aims to expand upon existing work concerning specific themes of meaning reconstruction in a sample of bereaved parents. More specifically, the relationship between meaning reconstruction, complicated grief, and posttraumatic growth was analyzed, with special attention focused on traumatic and unexpected losses. Method: In a mixed methods approach, themes of meaning reconstruction (sense-making and benefit-finding) were assessed in in-depth interviews with a total of 30 bereaved parents. Posttraumatic growth and complicated grief were assessed using standardized questionnaires, and qualitative and quantitative results were then merged using data transformation methods. Results: In total 42 themes of meaning reconstruction were abstracted from oral material. It was shown that sense-making themes ranged from causal explanations to complex philosophical beliefs about life and death. Benefit-finding themes contained thoughts about personal improvement as well as descriptions about social actions. Significant correlations were found between the extent of sense-making and posttraumatic growth scores (r
s = 0.54, r
s = 0.49; pB0.01), especially when the death was traumatic or unexpected (r
s = 0.67, r
s = 0.63; p<0.01). However, analysis revealed no significant correlation with complicated grief. Overall results corroborate meaning reconstruction themes and the importance of meaning reconstruction for posttraumatic growth.
- Organisation(en)
- Institut für Klinische und Gesundheitspsychologie
- Journal
- European Journal of Psychotraumatology
- Band
- 5
- ISSN
- 2000-8066
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3402/ejpt.v5.22910
- Publikationsdatum
- 2014
- Peer-reviewed
- Ja
- ÖFOS 2012
- 501010 Klinische Psychologie
- Schlagwörter
- ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Link zum Portal
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/e30dae88-d788-4f35-be18-64f08d700a0f