I occasionally wear his huge sweaters but I often prefer not to think about it: Bereaved children talking and not talking about parental loss.

The unique perspective of children communicating about the loss of a parent has rarely been studied. In this qualitative research, we interviewed 12 children aged 7-12 and asked them about their experience communicating their loss. The children's verbal and non-verbal communication was characterized by constant movements away from and closer to various aspects of their loss, illustrated by three main themes: (a) children either talking about the loss or not talking about it; (b) first talking about the loss and then stopping to talk about it; and (c) simultaneously talking and not talking about the loss. Based on Stern's interpersonal relational thinking, our findings indicate that children wish to talk about the loss but also to avoid talking about it. The possibility of choosing to talk and not to talk with themselves and close individuals about the loss allows children to think about and articulate their feelings and thoughts.

Navigating the paradox: Strategies utilized by pregnant widows in an attempt to reconcile life and death.

Losing a spouse is a traumatic experience, especially at a younger age. This experience is arguably more intense and complex if the woman becomes a widow while pregnant. In the current study, we examined the strategies Israeli women who became widows while pregnant utilized to reconcile life and death. Twelve adult women who became widows while pregnant participated in this study, which involved in-depth semi-structured interviews. A thematic analysis of the interview content revealed four main strategies utilized to reconcile their simultaneous paradoxical experience of both life and death: Passiveness - focusing on neither life nor death; Segregation - focusing on either life or death; Continuum - perceiving life and death are the same; and Integration - coming to terms with both life and death. The women commonly utilized multiple strategies while navigating this paradox, with most participants using all four at some point during their attempted reconciliation process.

Congenital loss: Loss of an immediate family member prior to or during one's birth.

The loss of a family member is often conceptualized as a disruption in one's life story. However, when a loss occurs prior to, or during, one's birth, the bereaved life stories are not interrupted by the loss, but rather begin with loss. The paper offers a new conceptualization of these losses as "congenital losses" and captures the core aspects of this phenomenon. A qualitative phenomenological analysis of 34 in-depth semi-structured interviews with offspring and siblings whose family members died before/during their birth revealed four main challenges presented by congenital loss: incoherency and fragmentation; story-ownership; bond-establishment, and; identity challenges.

Bereaved parents' unwillingness to participate in a joint research interview: The case of feticide.

Bereaved parents who have undergone feticide are reluctant to participate in a joint interview. Barthes' intertextuality approach is used to examine the texts of their separate interviews in order to arrive at an interpretive understanding of this phenomenon. Our results indicate that socially constructed gender roles and medical-biological and economic constructs, shape the parents' perceptions and actions. Both men and women behave based on the similarities with their partner and perceive any differences as a threat. The proposal to take part in a joint interview was perceived as a danger to the agreed-upon socially constructed views. Implications are presented.

Body Perception and Organ Donation: Bereaved Parents' Perspectives.

The view of the body in sociological, psychological, and gender studies may be broadly summarized to three metaphors: (a) the body as a machine, (b) the body as Self, and (c) the body as sacred and sanctified entity. Each of these philosophical views has an impact on organ donation. The current study aimed at revealing body perception of bereaved Israeli parents who agreed to donate organs of their deceased child. A deductive and inductive thematic analysis captured an ongoing perceptual change that bereaved donor parents experienced in their view of the child's body. Parents' ability to move between two positions (the body as Self, the body as a machine) allowed them to agree with and protect their decision to donate as well as to maintain an ongoing bond with their deceased child. The view of the body as scared entity was not evident in the bereaved parents' narratives.

Mothers' Continuing Bond With the Baby: The Case of Feticide.

The nature of the ongoing bond maintained by the bereaved with the deceased has attracted considerable attention, but studies have generally ignored postdeath relationships when loss occurs in utero. The goal of this research was to reach an interpretive understanding of the continuing bond experience among Israeli mothers who underwent feticide, examining the strategies they use in maintaining a postdeath relationship with a child they did not know, whose death they chose and witnessed, within a social context that ignores their loss and forces them to silence their grief. The results highlight two themes: (a) strategies for relinquishing connection with the baby and (b) strategies for maintaining a postdeath relationship. These processes partially correspond with two theoretical views that shed light on interpretation of the results: the dual process of coping with bereavement and relational dialectic theory. Implications of the results to the practice of health providers are outlined.

No one sees the fathers: Israeli fathers' experience of feticide.

RATIONALE: Feticide, a relatively recent development in medical technology, is the practice of late-stage pregnancy termination. The practice of feticide and the individuals who are closely exposed to it - particularly the fathers- have been under-researched. OBJECTIVE: The current research aims to fill this lacuna, examining the experience of Israeli fathers whose fetuses underwent feticide. Israeli policy concerning late-stage termination of pregnancy is unique but corresponds with Israeli social norms that emphasize health in general and healthy children in particular. METHODS: Seventeen interviews with men who experienced the feticide of their fetuses were carried out. Interviews were analyzed using the principles of hermeneutic phenomenology as outlined by Ricoeur. RESULTS: The results indicate that men's experiences in this arena are socially constructed and limited by gender roles and expectations. The revealed themes address: (a) the lack of a socially constructed terminology; (b) the unclear definition of the feticide experience; (c) men's sense of obligation to protect themselves and others from the procedure and its ramifications, and (d) the policies and regulations used to exclude men from the feticide experience, and the strategies they use to exclude themselves. The results further revealed that while narrating their experiences, men re-examined their behaviors, raising retrospectively counterfactual thoughts about what should have been done differently. CONCLUSION: The findings highlight the interface between a personal experience and a social phenomenon. In conceptualizing the men's two opposing positions - one that embraces social expectations, as evident in the revealed themes; the other that questions fathers' conformity, as evident through their counterfactual thoughts -Dialogical Self Theory was useful.

Justifications of feticide.

This qualitative research explores the justifications that Israeli women provided for their decision to end their late-stage pregnancies, or in other words to undergo feticide. A constructivist approach was used, as it recognizes the significance of sociocultural narratives in the construction of people's experiences. Data from in-depth interviews were analyzed using an adapted version of constant comparative analysis to identify and develop categories and thematic patterns. Three main themes were identified, which incorporated the various justifications women use in explaining their decision to undergo feticide: justifications related to the mother and her family; justifications related to the fetus; and justifications related to the views of medical professionals and society at large. The analysis process further revealed an overall conceptualization: wrongful life and a wrongful birth, which underlie the 3 themes. In the justification process, the women drew on a number of strategies to uphold their positions as moral caring human beings and good mothers, including denial of injury, appeal to higher loyalties, and defense of necessity. These justifications seem to have failed, as the women continued to struggle with the morality of their decision. Women's difficulties were grounded in contradicting social messages concerning feticide, as feticide is a relatively common yet socially unrecognized and undiscussed procedure in Israel. The findings highlight the interface between personal experience and social phenomena and call for an open social discourse on feticide. (PsycINFO Database Record

Israeli mothers' meaning reconstruction in the aftermath of homicide.

This study is the first to our knowledge to provide an in-depth account of the meanings reconstructed by bereaved Israeli mothers of homicide victims. Homicide survivors tend to receive little or no support from society; this is especially true in Israel, where homicide victims are a neglected population whose voice is socially muted. Constructivist theories have informed understanding of grief, emphasizing the role of meaning reconstruction in adaptation to bereavement, as well as the role of social support in the process of meaning reconstruction. We derived 3 prototypes of meaning from interviews of 12 bereaved mothers: the existential paradox; a bifurcated worldview; and oppression, mortification, and humiliation. Most informants used all 3 prototypes in the process of reconstructing meaning, describing changes in the perception of themselves, the world, and society. However, change was also accompanied by continuity, because participants did not abandon their former worldview while adopting a new one. The findings suggest that meaning reconstruction in the aftermath of homicide is a unique, multifaceted, and contradictory process. Implications for practice are outlined. (PsycINFO Database Record

Bodies as means for continuing post-death relationships.

Secondary analysis of data from 30 people in three interview studies shows that bereaved people use their own and the deceased's body in their continuing efforts to maintain a relationship with the departed. Following the continuing bond perspective, the study reveals three body-associated strategies for maintaining post-death relationships: (a) the presence of the deceased in the bereaved's body, (b) body-associated actions and activities, and (c) sensing and caring for the deceased's body. The conceptual dimension of embodiment is used to interpret results. Attention is also given to the bereaved's sense of disembodiment due to social rejection of these strategies for maintaining post-death relationships. Implications for health psychologists are offered.

Ideological meaning making after the loss of a child: the case of Israeli bereaved parents.

The study provides a view of ideological meaning-making processes of 10 Israelis who lost a child examining the parents' perspectives and written public documents. The texts and interviews were analyzed using Gadamer's hermeneutic philosophy. Findings indicate that bereaved parents construct conflicting ideologically oriented viewpoints: doubting and affirming the Zionist ideology; ascribing sense and senselessness to the loss; and joining the ethos but keeping personal meanings. Our conclusion is consistent with theorists who reject the notion that the human narrative should be coherently unified. We point to potential links between relational dialectics and meaning-making theory and outline implications for practice.

Configurations of Time in Bereaved Parents' Narratives.

In this study, we examined the configurations of time within narratives of bereaved Israeli parents, employing Gadamer's hermeneutic philosophy as the research methodology. Our results reveal that following a sudden violent loss, parents experienced a change in their sense of time. Three nonexclusive time possibilities were evident in the participants' narratives: time stopped, time moved forward, and time moved backward. Although most of the social science literature highlights the importance of linear temporal configuration to enhance the coherence of text, based on our study we call for other forms of temporal ordering, as varied time configurations were used by the bereaved and were perceived to have beneficial outcomes. Finally, we outline implications for mental health professionals.

Unanticipated death of a partner: the loss experience of bereaved girlfriends of fallen Israeli soldiers.

This qualitative study examined the loss experience of 15 Israeli bereaved girlfriends of fallen soldiers. The girlfriends of fallen Israeli soldiers are socially unacknowledged as being bereaved. This disenfranchised experience of grief is conveyed through social exclusion components and personal experiences of grief that were conceptualized into four themes: (a) learning about the loss; (b) loneliness and lack of social support; (c) intensifying initial experiences while creating alternative social networks; and (d) missed opportunities. The results provide new insight into the concept of disenfranchised grief suggesting it is a multidimensional experience that includes personal, interpersonal, and social dimensions, each of which falls along a continuum ranging from a sense of acceptance to a sense of exclusion. Results also suggest that there are various depths to the experience of disenfranchised grief, which changes over time. Thus, disenfranchised grief is an ongoing and temporal personal, interpersonal, and social experience. Practical implications are discussed.

Silenced voices: Israeli mothers' experience of feticide.

The study is a qualitative analysis of 13 interviews with Israeli women who experienced feticide by injection at a late stage of their pregnancy due to fetus abnormality. Neither the public nor health care professionals are fully aware of the implications and significance of feticide to the mother. The goal of this study which was conducted from May 2008 until October 2009 was to understand and give voice to the women's experience. Three themes were discovered: (a) difficult decision making process and outcomes; (b) the unbearable experience of feticide; and (c) feticide as an unspoken experience. Feticide was revealed to incorporate both social and psychological layers; thus, the findings highlight the interface between a personal experience and a social phenomenon. The women's experience is discussed within the Israeli social context, where feticide is a relatively common yet unspoken procedure.

Spiritual beliefs among Israeli nurses and social workers: a comparison based on their involvement with the dying.

The purpose of the study was to compare spiritual beliefs and practices between nurses and health care social workers based on their involvement with dying patients. Exposure to the dying was identified by two indicators: the percentage of terminally ill patients in the provider's care and the work environment. On the basis of the literature, differences were expected between the two types of professionals and the three degrees of involvement with the dying. Nurses were expected to have a higher spiritual perspective than social workers; and health care providers with high involvement in care for the dying were expected to hold the highest levels of spiritual beliefs. Contrary to expectations, no differences in spirituality were found between nurses and social workers; both groups exhibited medium levels of spirituality. Furthermore, health care providers who were highly involved with dying patients had the lowest spiritual perspectives. Tentative explanations of these unexpected results are presented and discussed.

The experience of miscarriage in first pregnancy: the women's voices.

The study is a qualitative analysis of 19 interviews with Israeli women who have lost a first pregnancy to miscarriage. Neither the public nor health care professionals are fully aware of the implications and significance of miscarriage to the woman who has lost the pregnancy. The goal of this study was to understand and give voice to the women's experience. Five themes were revealed--the greater the joy, the more painful the crash; the nature and intensity of the loss; sources of support; life after the miscarriage; and recommendations to professionals. The experience of miscarriage was found to be grounded in the meaning of being a woman, as the loss of the pregnancy undermines the women's basic belief in their fertility and as a result threatens their meaning and role as women.

High-risk pregnancy and hospitalization: the women's voices.

The study is a phenomenological analysis of 10 focus groups with Israeli women who were hospitalized because of high-risk pregnancy. The goal of this study was to understand the lived experience of hospitalization due to high-risk pregnancy. Five themes were recognized: (1) the desire to nurture and the social pressure to do so; (2) the personal and social meaning of a family; (3) loss of normal experiences of life and childbearing; (4) the woman's needs versus the fetus's well-being; and (5) sources of strength and stress. Conflicting relationships recognized within and between the themes pointed to ambivalence as the core characteristic of the experience. Practical implications and further research are recommended to better inform health care personnel and social workers assisting these women.

The lived experiences of Israeli Arab Moslems who are caring for a relative with cognitive decline.

The study examined the lived experience of caring for a relative with cognitive decline. The informants were 18 Arab, Moslem caregivers living in rural communities in Northern Israel who participated in personal interviews. The transcripts were analyzed using the hermeneutic phenomenological approach to the study of human behavior (van Manen, 1998). The results clarified how social location affects caregiving perceptions, decisions, and actions. The portrayed experiences were complex and involved the dimensions of life, including individuals, family-neighbors, and social-political environments. The holistic overview of the transcripts indicated the inseparable political and personal influences on perceptions of caregivers, a conflict of old and new social viewpoints, the absence of one main caregiver for the divided duties of several family members, and the lack of scientific information about the condition of the relative. Several motivations for caregiving were documented and examples of personal, interpersonal, and community resources were provided.

The meaning that young Israeli adults ascribe to the least undesirable death.

The study examines descriptions by 14 Israeli young adults of the least undesirable death. The transcripts of essays and interviews were analyzed by phenomenological methods to determine themes and interpret their synthesis into the essence of the phenomenon. The least undesirable death was perceived as multi-dimensional, based on 4 themes: the time, manner, and place in which death occurs, and the importance of death being beneficial to others. These themes represent 2 salient ideologies in Israeli society: autonomy of the individual (including control over his/her own life) and communitarian philosophy that calls for emphasis of the common good. These 2 forces, which pull in opposite directions, were captured in the essence of the phenomenon: least undesirable for self versus least undesirable for others. The results of this study call researchers and practitioners in the field of death and dying to move beyond the common uni-dimensional perception of a "good death" and to recognize that this is a multi-layered phenomenon in which the perspectives of self (autonomy) and others (communitarianism) do not necessarily mesh.

Family beliefs about end-of-life decisions: an interpersonal perspective.

Elderly Israelis and their family members (n = 41) from 13 nuclear families were interviewed individually and conjointly concerning their beliefs about end-of-life decisions that would involve prolonging life or hastening death. The transcribed interviews were analyzed using the hermeneutic phenomenology approach since the purpose of the study was to reveal and interpret beliefs that were not easily visible to participants. The premise of the study was that it would be possible to identify family beliefs that had been unintentionally, but collectively constructed by family members. The results presented 6 belief themes and 3 communication strategies that supported our premise. These family beliefs and communication patterns have practical implications for professionals working with families that are making end-of-life decisions