Ambiguous Loss

Managing the Dialectics of Grief Associated with Premature Birth

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2929804
AutoresTamara D Golish (Pennsylvania State University), K Powell (0000-0003-3434-7689, Luther College), Kimberly A Powell (Luther College)
Año2003
Volumen20
Número3
Páginas309-334
Fecha de publicación2003-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Social and Personal Relationships (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0265-4075 • E-ISSN: 1460-3608
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0265407503020003003
OpenAlexW2136795264
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas33
Referencias citadas27

This study used a dialectical framework to examine the communication of family members who experienced the ambiguous loss of a premature birth. The parents' uncertainty about their baby's prematurity was exacerbated by contradictory feelings of joy and grief, and efforts to communicate the complicated experience to family members. As the parents attempted to manage this joy-grief contradiction, they experienced other tensions of acknowledgment-denial, control-helplessness, certainty-uncertainty, and openness-closedness. The parents of premature babies underwent various grief emotions as they mourned the loss of a full-term pregnancy and feared for their child's life and health. However, they were often unable to allow themselves to feel their grief and were unsure how to communicate it because their baby was still alive. The combination of dialectical tensions thus intensified the uncertainty and pain that accompanies the ambiguous loss of a premature birth. The dialectical tensions surrounding the ambiguous loss of a premature birth and the communication strategies used to manage them are examined

Certainty · Contradiction · Denial · Developmental psychology · Dialectic · Disenfranchised grief · Feeling · Grief · Learned helplessness · Openness to experience · Psychotherapist · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · Infant Development and Preterm Care · Infant Health and Development · Psychology · Social Psychology