| Purpose. The overall purpose of my study was to determine how a bereaved parent might identify unique processes that exist among parents who have lost a child, that are not identifiable in other types of losses such as the loss of a sibling, parent, spouse, or other first degree relative. Previous research has identified the loss of a child to have a more significant, deeper impact than other. Central to the study was to discover, through a qualitative interview method, those things which a parent reported as being key processes in their experience. Further it was the purpose of this study to delineate the specific actions of others that the parent found either helpful or non-helpful during the time following the death of the child. Finally, the applicability of a stage model of grief related to the loss of a child was explored. A criterion based, convenience sample of six parents were interviewed relative to their personal experiences using semi-structured interview questions formulated based upon the research questions.;Results. The results of this research indicate that for these parents, the death of their child was experienced as a deeper, more complicated grief than they experienced following the death of other first degree relatives, a construct found in previous research. From the case studies, specific examples of actions and/or expressions considered to be both helpful and non-helpful to the bereaved parent emerged. All six participants identified a desire for other people to verbally acknowledge the fact that they had suffered a great loss. They also related the need for others to continue to express caring through phone calls and other expressions of interest. Additionally, actions and/or expressions experienced as being harmful to parents during their grief were identified. They included having other people tell them: "I know how you feel". Finally, experiences related to the stage model of grief as described by Kubler-Ross (1969, 1970) were consistent with the expressed experiences of some, but not all, parents following the death of their child.;KEYWORDS: Grief, Bereavement, Loss of a child, Parental grief, Bereavement, Death of a child, Grief experiences of a parent. |
