Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2014 Mar 31;5. doi: 10.3402/ejpt.v5.22910. eCollection 2014.
Confronting the loss of a loved one leads us to the core questions of human existence. Bereaved parents have to deal with the rupture of a widely shared concept of what is perceived to be the natural course of life and are forced into meaning reconstruction.
This study aims to expand upon existing work concerning specific themes of meaning reconstruction in a sample of bereaved parents. More specifically, the relationship between meaning reconstruction, complicated grief, and posttraumatic growth was analyzed, with special attention focused on traumatic and unexpected losses.
In a mixed methods approach, themes of meaning reconstruction (sense-making and benefit-finding) were assessed in in-depth interviews with a total of 30 bereaved parents. Posttraumatic growth and complicated grief were assessed using standardized questionnaires, and qualitative and quantitative results were then merged using data transformation methods.
In total 42 themes of meaning reconstruction were abstracted from oral material. It was shown that sense-making themes ranged from causal explanations to complex philosophical beliefs about life and death. Benefit-finding themes contained thoughts about personal improvement as well as descriptions about social actions. Significant correlations were found between the extent of sense-making and posttraumatic growth scores (r s=0.54, r s=0.49; p<0.01), especially when the death was traumatic or unexpected (r s=0.67, r s=0.63; p<0.01). However, analysis revealed no significant correlation with complicated grief. Overall results corroborate meaning reconstruction themes and the importance of meaning reconstruction for posttraumatic growth.
面对亲人的离世，我们会直面人类存在的核心问题。丧亲的父母不得不面对被广泛认为是生命自然进程的观念的破裂，并被迫进行意义重建。
本研究旨在扩展现有关于丧亲父母群体中特定意义重建主题的研究。更具体地说，分析了意义重建、复杂悲痛和创伤后成长之间的关系，特别关注创伤性和意外的丧失。
采用混合方法，通过对 30 名丧亲父母的深入访谈，评估了意义重建（意义构建和获益发现）的主题。使用标准化问卷评估创伤后成长和复杂悲痛，然后使用数据转换方法合并定性和定量结果。
从口头材料中提取了 42 个意义重建主题。结果表明，意义构建主题从因果解释到对生死的复杂哲学信念不等。获益发现主题包含了个人成长的思考以及对社会行动的描述。意义构建与创伤后成长得分之间存在显著相关性（rs=0.54，rs=0.49；p<0.01），尤其是在死亡是创伤性或意外性时（rs=0.67，rs=0.63；p<0.01）。然而，分析显示与复杂悲痛无显著相关性。总体结果证实了意义重建主题和意义重建对创伤后成长的重要性。
