Vivências de perda e luto de idosos residentes em uma instituição asilar de longa permanência em Ribeirão Preto-SP. 2008. 64f. Dissertação (Mestrado) - Escola de Enfermagem de Ribeirão Preto/USP, Ribeirão Preto, 2008. A institucionalização acarreta perdas ao idoso que devem ser elaboradas por um processo de luto, de caráter patológico quando insatisfatório, sendo, certamente, a maior causa de depressão na idade avançada. Idosos residentes em instituições de longa permanência apresentam uma multiplicidade de perdas. O presente estudo objetivou investigar situações de perda e luto de idosos institucionalizados. Trata-se de estudo qualitativo; descritivo e exploratório. Os critérios de inclusão foram: idade igual ou superior a 60 anos, capacidade de entendimento e comunicação verbal e concordância com o Termo de Consentimento Livre e Esclarecido. Foram realizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas, com seis idosos, que foram gravadas em fita cassete e submetidas à análise de conteúdo. Foram elaboradas três categorias: perda por morte, perda por separação e outras perdas; sendo a perda por separação dividida em três subcategorias: separação conjugal, separação da família e separação de companheiros da instituição. A morte de pessoas queridas aproxima o idoso de sua própria mortalidade dificultando o processo de luto; porém, a separação é muito mais difícil de ser elaborada por ser uma perda entre vivos, com possibilidade de se perder o significado da vida junto com o outro. Assim, a separação pode ser mais temida que a própria morte. Considera-se, portanto, que é fundamental aos cuidadores asilares conhecer as diversas situações de perdas e luto do idoso institucionalizado, a fim de auxiliá-lo em seu processo de enfrentamento, fornecendo subsídios para que o asilamento não seja vivenciado como uma experiência desagradável. / For the elderly, life in a nursing home may result in a multitude of losses which must be addressed by the individual through the process of grief. This process, when pathologic, may not be sufficient, becoming a major catalyst for depression among seniors. The objective of this study was to investigate situations of loss and grief among institutionalized seniors. It is a qualitative, descriptive and exploratory research. Including criteria: individuals 60 years or older who had the ability to comunicate and understand, agreeing with the Consent Term. Half-structured interviews conducted with six people were recorded and submitted to \"contents analysis\" (Minayo\'s method). Three categories of emotional loss were created: loss by death, loss by separation and other losses. Loss by separation was further divided into three subcategories: marriage separation, family separation and separation of peers living in the nursing home. The death of a loved one reminds the elderly individual of his/her own mortality, complicating the process of mourning. Separation, however, is much more difficult to overcome because there is a loss among the living, with the possibility to lose the meaning of life with the other one. Therefore, separation may cause more fear than death itself. Finally, understanding loss and grief among the elderly people is fundamental for nursing care, in order to help them with the process of coping and to prevent institutionalization to become an unpleasant experience.

The following is a collection of six short stories written between 2014 and 2016. While the short stories are not connected, they tend to grapple with issues of grief and belonging. Characters who struggle to name their feelings, to inhabit them, and yet feel them nonetheless, populate these pages. There is also a theme of fantastical bodies in some of the stories--women who levitate and little boys who suffer heart problems when they feel too much joy. The interplay between emotion and physical ailment is exaggerated and dramatized in these instances.

The study of the loss of a sibling in mainstream bereavement literature has been largely neglected in psychology. This sentiment has often, and still continues, to be expressed by those outside and within the psychological field. The focus in the childhood bereavement literature has been on the loss of a parent and, in adulthood, on the loss of a child or of a spouse. Despite the growing interest in sibling loss in more recent times (since the 1980s), more specifically in childhood and adolescent sibling loss, in reality bereaved siblings remain ‘forgotten’ and even marginalised. The present study concerned the experience of the loss of a brother or sister in young adulthood, an area that has been largely neglected. The phenomenon was explored using a qualitative approach and employing the empirical phenomenological psychological research method as articulated by Amedeo Giorgi. In-depth interviews with three research participants who were asked to describe their experience of the loss of their sibling were used to gather the data. The emphasis was on discovery, on allowing the siblings to speak for themselves by posing an open-ended question rather than focusing on isolated aspects of the loss experience. The general psychological structure revealed that the experience of the loss of a brother or sister evolves over time and cannot meaningfully be understood as an event that can be contained within a specified moment in time. The experience is a fundamentally relational and paradoxical phenomenon and is reflective of the context in which it occurs. With the loss, the sibling's whole world changes in a very radical way. It is a triple loss: the loss of the brother or sister, the loss of the family unit and the 'loss' of the parents as the siblings had known them. Initially bereaved siblings put aside their grief in an attempt to protect parents and significant others. A conspiracy of silence evolves which conceals their pain and as they continue with life as ‘normal’ there is a deceptive belief of ‘coping well’, of personal stability. Yet internally the bereaved sibling struggles with intense emotions and a lonely struggle ensues. The lack of acknowledgement of the sibling’s grief by others compounds the sense of isolation and alienation and he/she begins to feel like an “implicated alien”, a participant-spectator; part-of and also apart-from the grief situation. Finding a safe space to grieve is critical to bereaved siblings and when this is possible they are able to let go of their deep emotions and grieve the loss of their brother or sister. The loss of a sibling is the experience of losing various parts of the self and needing to reclaim and reintegrate self. The main contribution of this study can be described as providing insights concerning the complex, multi-layered and multi-dimensional process of this loss experience to clinicians and others who care for bereaved siblings. Where the extant psychoanalytic and object relations literature is willing to concede that a sibling relationship exists, screened behind parental relationships, the present study reveals that siblings have a unique relationship of their own and that the loss of this relationship demands radical mourning. This study also reveals that death in the family is a fundamentally relational experience. The loss of a sibling and the loss of a child frequently overlap and tumble into each other and it is difficult to know for whom the sibling is grieving at any particular moment. Thus, grief over the loss of a brother or sister cannot be reduced to a purely intra-psychic or psycho-social process. The fact that sibling grief is not visible, does not mean that it does not exist. Clinicians and caregivers need to be aware of the existential chaos, the trauma, and the ambiguous and paradoxical nature of the sorrow experienced by a sibling-who-loses-a-sibling. Future research into the loss of a brother or sister beyond young and middle adulthood, an area that has also largely been neglected, would constitute an important contribution to the psychology of siblings and of sibling loss/bereavement throughout the life cycle. Also significant would be the exploration of what happens in the sibling group following the loss of one of their members. / Thesis (PhD (Psychotherapy))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Psychology / unrestricted

This research case was divided into five facets (amacala) and was carried out in Mthatha at the Eastern Cape Province and in the University of Pretoria in Gauteng Province. The first phase of this project was aimed at introducing a general introductory chapter to this study, the second phase was a research methodology, the third phase was literature review of the related publications, the fourth phase was the pastoral therapeutic process and interviews, the fifth phase was the final phase that cycled off this dissertation with the summary of findings and the conclusions of the research project with recommendations. The uniting factor to help these weak three grouping families would be the theocentric family based on Trinitarian unconditional love covenant, grace, empowering and intimacy. The pastoral care narrative counseling should be based on narrative therapy supported by the Word of God basically in Acts 4.10&12, John 1: 12-13. The marriage question seemed to be source or relationship counselling which also needed theocentric approach to return to family origin of God. The Eurocentric, Africentric and Asiacentric approaches are not the answers to the infected and affected African families experiencing loss and grief and both European and Asian families have the same origin as that of African family, the theocentric family of God. This need further investigate especially to the extended family in Africa and Asia and Asiatic family on Asiatic side. Polygamy also would need much attention since it could be a source of traumatic event to both African and Asian families. Church involvement to counselling was not yet clear how parishioners were trained to help the pastor in the therapeutic activities. / Dissertation (MA(Theol))--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

BACK TO BLUEFIELD is a collection of ten short stories set in the fictional small town of Bluefield, Ohio. Like “Dance of the Happy Shades” by Alice Munro, BACK TO BLUEFIELD highlights patriarchal limitations women often face in rural communities. In “This Little Light of Mine,” a teenage girl attempts to escape the sexual abuse inflicted on her by her father, while in “Praise Camp,” a youth pastor counsels a teenager to repress homosexual feelings, yet cannot bury her own unrequited love for her female best friend. In the spirit of Hemingway’s “The End of Something,” each story contain a high, clear note of grief. In “Lottie’s Winter,” a widow pushes away a new chance at love because of her lasting grief over her husband’s death. Disoriented by profound loss, and limited by Bluefield’s cultural expectations and economic struggles, each character confronts staggering gaps between their realities and their desires.

A deep interest in how relationships, specifically romantic partnerships, cope with and survive tragedies, guides this research. My research question was: What are the narratives of intact bereaved couples whose children have died after receiving palliative care for a life-limiting illness? Five couples were interviewed who had lost their children ranging in age from 1-14 years of age. This loss occurred between 2 to 9 years previous to this study. The purpose of this narrative research study was to better understand the ways in which intact marital partners/couples coped together with the stress and grief involved in having a child with a life-limiting condition and then having that child die after receiving palliative care. A secondary aim was to bring forth their voices through their narratives as a means to address the stigmatization and isolation often experienced by those who are bereaved, especially those who have lost a child. This project informs professionals who are working with couples undergoing the struggle of a child's critical illness or who are working with bereaved couples. Each couple's narrative account was written in story format. In addition to the rich information gained from reading the holistic stories, 5 themes emerged through a categorical content analysis which were: 1) the last thing you worry about are issues about us, 2) accommodating one another's coping, 3) recognizing sources of support and limitations, 4) two souls against the world, and 5) we have a common bond : lessons and legacy of the child. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

Anticipatory grief has been described as a grief reaction which occurs prior to an expected loss. If cancer is perceived as a threat to life, relatives of patients diagnosed with cancer may experience anticipatory grief upon learning of the patient's diagnosis. Health professionals must have a greater awareness of the manifestations of this syndrome if they are to provide comprehensive care to these patients and their families. This study was designed to determine if a diagnosis of cancer does precipitate the manifestations of anticipatory grief first described by E. Lindemann in members of the patient's family. These manifestations include heightened preoccupation with the patient, depression, a review of the possible forms of death which may befall the patient and anticipation of the modes of readjustment that would be necessitated by his death. Using a semi-structured interview guide with open-ended questions, the investigator interviewed twenty family members of fourteen patients. The sample included spouses, children and parents of the patients. All of the interviews were recorded on audiotapes which were used for content analysis of the data. Of the twenty subjects, seven described all four manifestations, six mentioned three, three mentioned two, three mentioned one, and one subject did not mention any of the manifestations. Heightened preoccupation was described by seventeen subjects, depression by sixteen, reviewing forms of death by thirteen and anticipation of modes of readjustment by nine. Other common reactions expressed were fear of the disease and it consequences, hope inspired by knowledge gained from the clinic' specialists, and a feeling of ambivalence toward the disease and its treatment. Family differences were emphasized by the subjects' expressions of concern about the reactions of other members of the family. The results of this study indicate that Lindemann's theory can be used as a framework for assessing the anticipatory grief reactions of this population and suggest that it may also be applicable in a wider range of life-threatening situations. The fact that anticipatory grief was not experienced universally by this group was contrary to statements made in the literature that anticipatory grief is inevitable following a diagnosis of cancer and suggests that the attitude toward this disease may be changing. Further study is needed to determine if knowledge level or perception of the disease are significantly related to the experience of anticipatory grief in the early stages of the disease and if there are other factors which may be influential. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Nursing, School of / Graduate

Persistent intense yearning for the deceased is a core clinical feature of complicated grief (CG) that distinguishes it from other mental disorders that develop following loss. The Yearning in Situations of Loss Scale (YSL) is a recently developed assessment of yearning. To assess the psychometric properties of the YSL in those with CG, we administered the YSL, Inventory of Complicated Grief, and Quick Inventory of Depression Symptomatology to 303 treatment-seeking bereaved adults with CG. Our results suggest the YSL is a reliable assessment with acceptable convergent and discriminant validity as a measure of yearning in those with CG.

DICTIONARY OF STORMS is a collection of poetry that explores the dynamics of one family through their son’s absence. Using recurring images of skin, water, dragonflies, and pearls, the poems examine distance and absence, wanderlust and filial obligation from different family members’ perspectives. Desires are sloughed off, replaced by new ones, re-cultivated as mythos. The architecture of many individual poems, and the collection as a whole, are structured by meditative lyricism reminiscent of Li-Young Lee. Robert Hass’s poems and translations serve as a model for articulating both the difficulty and beauty of longing. Personae such as “Admonishing Brother Returns as Chrysanthemum” and “Hungry Brother Returns as Octopus” are influenced by Ai and Louise Glück. In the spirit of Emily Dickinson and John Keats, DICTIONARY OF STORMS reflects upon longing, grief, and desire.

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