A New State of Being: The Lived Experience of Parental Bereavement. (February 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Denhup, Christine Yvonne
• Is Part Of: Omega. Volume 74:Number 3(2017)
• Page Start: 345
• Page End: 360
• Publication Date: 2017-02
• Subjects: parental bereavement -- child death -- hermeneutic phenomenology; Death -- Psychological aspects -- Periodicals; Bereavement -- Psychological aspects -- Periodicals; Death -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Suicide -- Periodicals; 306.9
• DOI: 10.1177/0030222815598455
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0030-2228

Abstract

In spite of growing bereavement literature, the meaning of the lived experience of parental bereavement is not well understood. This article presents selected findings from a Heideggerian hermeneutic phenomenological study which aimed to describe the lived experience of bereaved parents who experienced the death of a child due to cancer. Conversational interviews were conducted with six parents who experienced the death of a young child due to cancer at least one year prior to participation. The nature of parental bereavement was revealed to be a new state of being into which parents enter immediately after the death of a child and which has no end point. Findings will equip health professionals and others who work with bereaved parents with a deeper understanding of the meaning of parental bereavement.