Attachment and meaning-making in perinatal bereavement.
The study examined the psychological impact of perinatal bereavement on 108 women, from a dual attachment and meaning-making perspective, both descriptively and predictively. The study hypothesized that grief acuity is a function of both attachment security (operationalized by A. Antonovsky's 1979 Sense of Coherence [SOC] scale), and the ongoing search for meaning. Controlling for time post-loss, psychological distress and intrusive thoughts; sense of coherence and search for meaning significantly predicted current grief acuity. The findings supported the conceptualization of grief as an interpretive phenomenon, elicited by the loss of a primary attachment figure, thereby shattering core life purposes, and implicating the need to reinstate meaning.
Uren
Tanya H
TH
Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre, West Heidelberg, VIC, Australia. tanya.uren@armc.org.au
Wastell
Colin A
CA
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001315:Australia; D001601:Bereavement; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology; D009769:Object Attachment; D011247:Pregnancy; D029181:Spirituality