This qualitative research study provides an in-depth exploration of a sample of bereaved mothers’ experiences over time following the death of their young child from cancer ten or more years ago. Eight mothers completed semi-structured interviews containing questions about their bereavement experience over time. Through a grounded theory analysis of the data eight major themes emerged consistently across subjects. In interpreting these major themes three overarching themes or meta themes have been identified. These meta themes encompass different yet overlapping aspects of the adaptation to the bereavement process: (a) the phenomenological: losing a child is a transformative experience; (b) the structural: child loss is unique among losses; and (c) the theoretical: the nature of continuing bonds and its grounding in attachment theory. Clinical implications for working with bereaved mothers are discussed.
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Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = RULIB)
ETD
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TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = local)
rucore10001800001
Identifier
ETD_5639
Identifier (type = doi)
doi:10.7282/T3R49P74
PhysicalDescription
Form (authority = gmd)
electronic resource
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
1 online resource (xii, 148 p. : ill.)
Note (type = degree)
Psy.D.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Note (type = statement of responsibility)
by Melanie Karger
Subject (authority = RUETD)
Topic
Clinical Psychology
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Children--Death--Psychological aspects
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Bereavement--Psychological aspects
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Cancer in children
Location
PhysicalLocation (authority = marcorg); (displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
Rutgers University. Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology
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License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.