Giving Meaning to the Meaningless- Exploring Perceptions of Parents That Have Lost Their Children
Keywords:
grief, meaning – making, benefits – findingAbstract
Losing a child is one of the worst and most painful experiences that an individual can experience. Researches have been focused lately on meaning-making processes considering this process as crucial in coping with grief This study aimed to explore how parents give meaning to the death of their child. The study was conducted in Albania. A convenient sample was used for participants to take part in the study. Twenty in-depth interviews were conducted with parents who have lost a child. The parents interviewed have lost their children starting from 2 to 15 years ago. Deaths occurred due to different causes such as car accidents, terminal illnesses, heart attacks etc. After coding the interviews, themes were identified and further explored by the researcher. Several themes and sub-themes were identified including regrets and guilt, God’s will and coping through religion, continuing bonds and relationship with death. The study confirmed some of the main findings of the previous studies on meaning making and grief. Parents who lack meaning in the death of their child showed also features of complicated bereavement and a higher tendency toward regrets and guilt. The study suggests that in an attempt to find meaning, often parents get involved in rumination states where regrets and guilt are the most prevalent feelings. The study also explored the relationship of the bereaved parents with death and noted that this relationship changes. In some of the cases of more severe and complicated grief, suicide was seriously considered during the first phases of grief.
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