Persistence in mourning: A phenomenological study of the experience of abnormal mourning after the death of a family member

Subject Areas : Educational

parvin oskui ¹ , kiumars farahbakhsh ² , omid moradi ³

1 - Department of Counseling, Sanandaj Branch , Islamic Azad University, Sanandaj, Iran.
2 - Department of Counseling, Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, Iran.
3 - Department of Counseling, Sanandaj Branch , Islamic Azad University, Sanandaj, Iran.

Received: 2020-09-19 Accepted : 2020-10-12 Published : 2022-02-20

Keywords: phenomenology, mourning, normal mourning, abnormal mourning lived experience,

Abstract :

tThe purpose of this present study was to investigate the experience of the research participants after mourning the death of a family member.This study used a descriptive phenomenological research approach to collect and analyze data. This study participants consisted of 12 married or unmarried men and women with a diploma to a master's degree and in the age range of 30-50 years, who had the experience of staying in the mourning of a family member such as a child, parent, spouse or co-workers. Purposeful sampling was the selection and collection of data through in-depth interviews. The interview questions were open-ended (supplementary) with a general question: Tell us about your experience after the death of your loved one? It was starting. In the continuation of the interview, to explore the phenomenon in depth, follow-up questions such as can you explain more about this?. The participants attended in-depth interviews until data saturation was reached. Data analysis revealed 4 themes and 12 subthemes for the phenomenon, including: Psychological mechanisms with sub-themes: emotional mechanisms, behavioral mechanisms and cognitive mechanisms; Family contexts with sub-themes: lack of emotional support and family support, lack of functioning and change in family structure, lack of family transfer from mourning stages and non-functioning of family subsystems; Personal contexts with sub-themes: Interfering personality traits, the deceased's place in the phenomenal world of the individual, the impact of the individual's past experiences; Attitudes were with the sub-themes of religious or non-religious attitude and acceptance or non-acceptance of the fact of death. The findings of this study extend past literature on mourning in the family context.Keywords: mourning, normal mourning, abnormal mourning lived experience, phenomenology

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