GRIEF JOURNEY OF BEREAVED MOTHERS

Abstract

Using the phenomenological methodology, this study of 12 bereaved mothers aimed to understand 1) the grief experience of bereaved mothers through their own descriptions, 2) the loss oriented (LO) and restoration oriented (RO) actions that the mothers took to cope with grief, and 3) to explore the sociocultural, religious and spiritual factors that influenced the grief experience.

Each mother’s grief experience was a journey that occurred in three phases. The phases are at point of diagnosis and treatment, death and post death.

At each of the three phases of grief, we found that DPM hold true for these mothers. Oscillation dominated the processes at all three phases. In addition, the study showed that sociocultural influences the wakes, funerals and last rites held. All mothers reported religious and spiritual influences in the grief experience and these factors played significant roles in helping the mothers to accept the child’s death.

Integrating these findings, the researcher concluded that DPM is a relevant grief theory that can account for the grief experience of a child’s death for the mothers in our local context. It is vital that sociocultural, religious and spiritual factors must be taken into consideration in understanding mother’s grief.