Although there is a strong body of existing literature on early parental loss, the majority of research is devoted to examining the consequences of parental death in childhood. Less is known about the long-term impact of this early loss. In particular, there is a lack of understanding about what it is like to live with early parental loss in young adulthood. This hermeneutic phenomenological study addresses the question: What is the young adult’s experience of living with early parental loss? An in-depth exploration into the lived meaning of early parental loss was conducted through open-ended interviews with 8 young men and women (20-30 years old) who lost a mother or father in childhood (between the ages of 9-18 years old). Interview data was coded and analyzed using van Manen’s (2014) hermeneutic phenomenological method, including the process of guided existential inquiry. The fundamental existential themes of lived body, lived time, lived space, and lived other were used as a guide to thematic representation of data. Ten identified themes characterize the essential qualities of this phenomenon: (1) The Grief Experience, (2) The Parentless Identity, (3) Body Awareness, (4) The Transition, (5) The Unexpected Visitor, (6) The New World, (7) The Empty Space, (8) Navigating Relationships in New Ways, (9) Continuing Bonds, and (10) The Relationship With Loss. Through rich experiential descriptions, presented findings demonstrate that the early death of a parent has an ‘ever after’ impact and significantly influences many facets of life in young adulthood. Implications for clinical practice and directions for future research are discussed. / Graduate / 2018-10-02

Varje dag förlorar åtta barn en förälder i Sverige. En större del av dem bevittnar detta efter en förälders sjukdom och kanske en kontakt med palliativ sjukvård. 2010 kom en ny lagändring i Hälso- och sjukvårdslagen som kräver att sjukvården särskilt ska beakta barnens behov av råd, stöd och information i samband med en förälders sjukdom eller om en förälder avlider. Det förekommer kunskapsbrister om hur läget kring stöd för barn som har förlorat en förälder ser ut. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur kuratorer inom palliativ sjukvård upplever sitt arbete med stöd till barn i samband med en förälders död. I en kvalitativ intervjustudie med fyra kuratorer som jobbar inom palliativ sjukvård kom det fram att de upplever sin roll i arbetet som bestående av många olika moment. Kuratorerna uppmärksammar barnet i dess sociala sammanhang, till exempel familj och skola och försöker se till att stödet därifrån fungerar. Detta görs genom att till exempel ge föräldrastöd till föräldrarna och att försöka informera föräldrarna att det gynnar barnens utveckling att de görs delaktiga och informeras. Att hänvisa till vidare kontakter som gruppverksamheter för barn i sorg eller dylikt är också en viktig del av kuratorers arbete. Kuratorernas arbete präglas av ett systemteoretiskt förhållningssätt/en helhetssyn vilket kan vara ett sätt att handskas med den komplexitet som arbetsuppgifterna innebär: att uppmärksamma barnens men även familjens behov i olika sammanhang och på olika nivåer. Vissa problemområden, till exempel motsättningen mellan barnens behov av information/delaktighet och föräldrars rätt att bestämma över sina barn har identifierats och inbjuder till vidare diskussion. / Eight children loose one of their parents every day in Sweden. The bigger part of them witness the death of the parent after a long-term illness and maybe after being in contact with the palliative care. The Swedish law of Health- and Healthcare was changed in 2010 due to emphasize that the healthcare institutions have to take into account children rights for information, counseling and support in case of a parental illness or death.  Knowledge about how the system of support for these children is functioning is limited until this day. The goal of this thesis is to examine how counselors in the palliative care experience their work with supporting the children who have lost a parent. The result of the interview study with four counselors in the palliative care implies that these counselors experience their job being complex with many different tasks. The counselors try to take into account the children and their needs in their social environments, such as family and school. To reassure that they get the support needed from these environments the counselors try to support the parents in their parenting and also by informing the parents that informing and including the children in these situations has a positive impact on their development. Another important part of the counselors’ job is referring the children to different support groups or another alternatives for support. The counselors job is characterized by the system theoretical/holistic approach which possibly can by explained as a way to work with children but even parental needs in different social environments and on different levels. Some new problematic issues arose from the interviews, such as the contradictive relationship between the children rights to information and support and the rights of the parents to decide for their children, which invites to further discussion and research in the area.