Kathleen R. Gilbert

TAKING A NARRATIVE APPROACH TO GRIEF RESEARCH: FINDING MEANING IN STORIES

This article explores the concepts of narrative as story, of storytelling, and of the narrative approach to qualitative research.Within this, I will also examine the social nature of narrative and the implications of this for research. I will look at the process of conducting a narrative study and the implications for participation in such a project and for the researcher investigating a phenomenon through this frame. In particular, the need to create stories to make order of disorder and find meaning in the meaningless is particularly relevant to the study of grief. In looking at the process of conducting a narrative study, questions about what can be analyzed and how it might be presented, some strengths and limitations of the narrative approach, and ethical questions also are considered.

“We've had the same loss, why don't we have the same grief?” loss and differential grief in families

Abstract This article takes a constructivistlinterpretivist view of grief within the interactive, meaning-making system of the family. Grief is viewed as a multidimensional process of reconceptualization of reality, focusing on regaining stability and meaning after a loss, with family members using their ongoing relationship with each other to engage in that process. Families are seen as arenas of grief; they themselves do not grieve. Members, on the other hand, grieve in the context of their family. Differential grief is the tendency of family members to be dealing with different issues at varied points in their grief process and with sometimes contrasting styles. This pattern of grieving within families is far more common in families than is matched grieving, and can lead to added pain, especially if the expectation is that members, having had the same loss, will grieve in the same way. Yet in order to maintain the family as a functioning entity, family members must recognize the loss, reorganize after ...

The emotional nature of qualitative research

INTRODUCTION: WHY ARE WE INTERESTED IN EMOTIONS? SECTION ONE Feminist Research with Women Awaiting Trial: The Effects on Participants in the Qualitative Research Process The Management of Self: Practical and Emotional Implications of Ethnographic Work in a Public Hospital Narrative Methods in Qualitative Research: Potential for Therapeutic Transformation Mirrors: Seeing Each other and Ourselves through Fieldwork SECTION TWO Qualitative Research as Spiritual Experience Emotions as Analytic Tools: Qualitative Research, Feelings, and Psychotherapeutic Insight Collateral Damage? Indirect Exposure of Staff Members to the Emotions of Qualitative Research Extreme Dilemmas in Performance Ethnography: Unleashed Emotionality of Performance in Critical Areas of Suicide, Abuse, and Madness An Act of Subversion: Night Workers on the Fringe of Dawn -From bow Wave to Deluge Catalog no. 2075, ISBN: 0849320755 January 2001, 224 pp.

Perinatal loss and parental grief: the challenge of ambiguity and disenfranchised grief.

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Loss and Grief between and Among Cultures: The Experience of Third Culture Kids

Following perinatal loss, a type of ambiguous loss, bereaved couples struggle with and experience distress due to various forms of ambiguity. Moreover, the juxtaposition of their grief with societys minimization often disenfranchises them from traditional grieving processes. The purpose of this study was to explore sources of ambiguity and disenfranchised grief related to perinatal loss. Audio-taped interviews with 13 bereaved couples at 2, 6, and 13 months following the death of their fetus or infant were analyzed. Several categories of ambiguity and disenfranchised grief emerged, pertaining to: (a) the viability of the pregnancy; (b) the physical process of pregnancy loss; (c) making arrangements for the remains; and (d) sharing the news. This study uncovers the many sources of ambiguity and disenfranchised grief that bereaved couples face in interactions with family, friends, society, and healthcare professionals. These insights may inform healthcare professionals in their attempts to ease distress related to perinatal loss.

Religion as a Resource for Bereaved Parents

This study explored the loss and grief experiences of third culture kids (TCKs), persons who accompanied their parents to live all or part of their childhood outside the country for which they hold a passport. The study used a qualitative, naturalistic design, incorporating interview and e-mail data collection. Forty-three TCKs participated in the study. Among the findings of the study are: losses that TCKs experience are often ambiguous and the grief of TCKs is frequently disenfranchised. Many of the losses (both hidden and recognized) were categorized as related to persons, places, pets, and possessions. In addition, existential losses, particularly the loss of meaning related to various aspects of themselves, were identified. More specifically, these existential losses focused on safety and trust, the loss personal identity, and the loss of home.

Lives forever changed: Family bereavement experiences after sudden cardiac death

This paper addresses the relationship between bereavement and religious beliefs for parents. In-depth, qualitative interviews of twenty-seven couples were used to address the question of the relative value of religion as a coping resource during grief. Also addressed were ways in which religion was a positive resource (enhancing recovery), a neutral resource (having no impact), or a negative resource (retarding recovery). Conclusions are presented regarding the resource value of religion and ways in which others, primarily clergy, family, and friends, can enhance positive and minimize negative impact of religion during bereavement.

Invitation to grief in the family context

AIM To describe the bereavement experiences of families who survived the sudden cardiac death of a family member and identify meanings of loss. BACKGROUND Approximately 325,000 people experience sudden cardiac death (SCD) annually. It is important to examine family experiences after SCD because of the life altering impact of death on surviving family members. METHODS A descriptive design, using the qualitative method of narrative analysis, was used to analyze family stories of bereavement. RESULTS Five themes were identified across seven families: sudden cardiac death … boom; saying goodbye; grief unleashes volatile emotional reactions; life goes on … but never back to normal; and meanings in loss. CONCLUSIONS This study adds to an understanding of family bereavement and findings suggest that providing information about the cause of death and allowing family members to tell their stories are potentially important interventions for clinicians who interact with bereaved families.

The body of knowledge in thanatology: An outline

ABSTRACT Grief is a family affair, yet it is commonly viewed as an individual phenomenon. As an international, interdisciplinary team, we explore grief within a family context across theoretical, research, practice, and educational domains. Families are complex and working with this complexity is challenging but necessary for a holistic view of grief. We therefore encourage an increased focus on theorizing, researching, practicing, and educating using innovative approaches to address the complexities of grief within the context of families. Learnings from within each domain will affirm and enhance the development of family-level thinking and approaches.

Interactive grief and coping in the marital dyad

ABSTRACT The Association for Death Education and Counseling has updated its articulation of the body of knowledge in the field of thanatology. In doing so it has relinquished the use of a matrix format in favor of a more serviceable outline containing three major sections: Arenas of Thanatology, Practice Considerations for Professionals in the Field, and Contextual and Theoretical Considerations. Accompanying the outline is a new commentary on the state of the field itself, along with an annotated bibliography of recent relevant publications.