title: A New State of Being.
abstract: In spite of growing bereavement literature, the meaning of the lived experience of parental bereavement is not well understood. This article presents selected findings from a Heideggerian hermeneutic phenomenological study which aimed to describe the lived experience of bereaved parents who experienced the death of a child due to cancer. Conversational interviews were conducted with six parents who experienced the death of a young child due to cancer at least one year prior to participation. The nature of parental bereavement was revealed to be a new state of being into which parents enter immediately after the death of a child and which has no end point. Findings will equip health professionals and others who work with bereaved parents with a deeper understanding of the meaning of parental bereavement.
authors.affiliation: 1 College of Nursing, Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Christine Yvonne
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Denhup
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001601:Bereavement; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003643:Death; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009369:Neoplasms; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D010371:Pediatric Nursing
keywords: child death; hermeneutic phenomenology; parental bereavement