Parental Bereavement Essay

The current trend on parental bereavement following the loss of a child offer supportive facts on understanding parental grief. “Both parental bereavements styles and grief factors are well documented but little is known in how parents construct a sense of understanding in the child’s death” (Meij, Stroebe, Stroebe, Schut, Van Den Bout, Van Der Heijden, &Dijkstra, 2008). Bereavement is the outcome of grief and for this review, it is defined as a feeling of sadness after the loss of a child. Notable trends that researchers still ponder over, which there may be some significant gender differences, are the individual parent’s coping patterns, mental functioning, and ability to finding meaning (Keesee, Currier, & Neimeyer, 2008). As a result,

204). In a study by Barrera et al., (2007) a comparison of bereaved mothers and bereaved fathers coping patterns, and gender differences in the bereavement outcome was done. Parents were visited at home to assess their emotional grief reactions and experiences. They observed more mothers were consume by the grief with symptoms of depression and impaired functioning, and more fathers were observed more in control of their emotions. The results indicate differences in coping styles such as mothers reported to seek events that trigger, re-living painful memories, and severe grief and father reported to continue with their daily routine. This article supports the assumption that mothers, in general, experience more overwhelming, complicated grief than fathers, demonstrating that fathers experience in the loss of a child is less inhibited than

In a longitudinal study of 219 couples, the nature of the circumstances surrounding the death of a child and psychological adjustment were evaluated (Meij et al., 2008). They track symptoms of grief and depression among participants at 6, 13, and 20 months after the death. They found bereaved parents psychological adjustment improved on learning to reconnect and find meaning in the loss. The results showed no gender differences in psychological symptoms. However, bereaved mothers showed considerably more depression than bereaved fathers. The results of the studies suggest bereaved mothers are likely to experience symptoms of complicated grief, and depression after the death of a child.

Another research on this topic was the focus of a phenomenological study by Harper et al., (2011). In investigating the lived experience of bereaved mothers, their data pointed to a strong and continuing bond between the mother and the deceased child. This bond often manifested itself in a strong desire for physical contact with their deceased child, more thoughts of suicide, and difficulty giving up their maternal role, resulting in increased difficulty accepting the loss of the child. The article indicates that maternal care factors may predict higher levels of depression and suicidal