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The nature of the ongoing bond maintained by the bereaved with the deceased has attracted considerable attention, but studies have generally ignored postdeath relationships when loss occurs in utero. The goal of this research was to reach an interpretive understanding of the continuing bond experience among Israeli mothers who underwent feticide, examining the strategies they use in maintaining a postdeath relationship with a child they did not know, whose death they chose and witnessed, within a social context that ignores their loss and forces them to silence their grief. The results highlight two themes: (a) strategies for relinquishing connection with the baby and (b) strategies for maintaining a postdeath relationship. These processes partially correspond with two theoretical views that shed light on interpretation of the results: the dual process of coping with bereavement and relational dialectic theory. Implications of the results to the practice of health providers are outlined.

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Based on the theoretical view of Terror Management Theory, the current research examines whether higher levels of death anxiety symptoms, in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak, increase the extent to which participants are exposed to information regarding the spread of the pandemic, as well as the fear of contagion and symptoms of hypochondriasis, which all in turn increase symptoms of adjustment disorder. A total number of 302 participants filled out self-report questionnaires regarding death anxiety, adjustment disorder, the extent of exposure to information regarding COVID-19, fear of contagion, hypochondriasis, and demographic information. Structural Equation Modeling analysis indicated a very good fit of the theoretical model with the data, confirming the mediation effect of exposure to information, fear of contagion, and symptoms of hypochondriasis on the association between death anxiety and adjustment disorder symptoms. Implications for practice are discussed.