Grief After the Death of the Child

Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 27:647–663, 2006 Copyright c Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0161-2840 print / 1096-4673 online DOI: 10.1080/01612840600643008

FATHERS’ GRIEF AFTER THE DEATH OF A CHILD Anna Liisa Aho, MNSc, RN Marja-Terttu Tarkka, PhD, RN

University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland

P¨ ivi Astedt-Kurki, PhD, RN a ˚ Marja Kaunonen, PhD, RN

University of Tampere, Tampere, and Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland The purpose of this study was to describe fathers’ grief and the changes the death of a child has brought to fathers’ lives. Participants included eight fathers who had lost a child. The data were collected using a questionnaire with open-ended questions and by interviews. Content analysis was used as a means of data analysis. The grief of the fathers manifested itself individually and dynamically and also in various anticipatory feelings and in physical, social, and behavioural reactions. The death of the child brought both positive and negative changes to the fathers’ lives. Mental health nurses should be aware that depression and other mental illness, as well as unemployment and financial problems, were reported by some of the study participants.

Grief is a normal, complex, multidimensional process in response to loss. It is also dynamic and unique for each individual. The pervasiveness of grief denotes its potential to affect every aspect of the grieving person’s life, that is physical, emotional, social, cognitive, and spiritual (Cowles, 1996; Jacob, 1993). In some theories, grief starts when a person receives the news of the loved one’s terminal illness (Hogan, Morse, & Tason, 1996). Grief of parents after the death of a child is especially severe, affected by several variables, such as parent’s gender (Dyregrov &

Address correspondence to Anna Liisa Aho, University of Tampere, Department of Nursing Science, Tampere 33014, Finland. E-mail: anna.l.aho@uta.fi

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Matthiesen, 1987a; Wood &...