Coping with a Child's Death

Abstract

This study focused on understanding spiritual issues addressed in parental accounts of losing a child and the therapeutic implications for helping professionals. Qualitative, in-depth interviews were conducted with nineteen parents concerning their experience with having a child die and its effect on their lives. The parents' stories were recorded and the narratives were then explored to develop a better understanding of spiritual themes and issues shared by parents related to the loss of a child.

A community for grieving: affordances of social media for support of bereaved parents

“…Parental grief may be neither shared nor understood by those who are unbereaved (Brotherson & Soderquist, 2002;Davies, 2004;Dyregrov, 2003;Riches & Dawson, 2000). The term "civilians" is employed by some bereaved parents to identify those who do not share their experience.…”

“…Unlike civilians, bereaved parents, like soldiers, have experienced unspeakable trauma and horror (Mitchell et al, 2012). Brotherson and Soderquist (2002) remark that the cultural avoidance, or "the conspiracy of silence" as Fitzgerald (1994) terms it, of the death of a child in most western countries limits the exploration of experiences and possibilities for coping with grief and for adapting more readily to the experience.…”

“…Since the death of a child is perceived as a near taboo topic in most western societies and often avoided in social interaction (Brotherson & Soderquist, 2002), bereaved parents' needs may counteract both with social norms and institutional arrangements. Consequently, there are not many contexts where grieving parents may "continue bonds" and learn to cope with and adapt to their loss.…”

“…Consequently, there are not many contexts where grieving parents may "continue bonds" and learn to cope with and adapt to their loss. This limits the exploration of experiences and possibilities for coping with grief (Brotherson & Soderquist, 2002), as well as restricts the possibilities for empirical research. However, with the introduction of social media, this has changed.…”

Worrying About Death: An Initial Analysis of Young Adult Cancer Patients' Needs

“…We personally rarely encounter death in our everyday life, which allows us to avoid the topic but leads to a lack of strategies for approaching it when the need arises. 3 In high-income countries, cancer is the most common cause of disease-related death in YAs, 4 even though the 5year survival rates continue to improve in western Europe. 5 YAs diagnosed with cancer understand the severity of their illness, and may experience distress and anxiety about recurrence, death, or late effects.…”