Abstract
Bereavement is painful at any time of life. For young children experiencing bereavement, grandmothers are often the first line of defense. Grandmothers are frequently called upon when their family members experience an out-of-order death, and while they are willing to provide care, grandmothers don't always know the best way forward. This qualitative study sought to learn more about the grief experiences of 22 grandmothers who had lost a family member prematurely through semi-structured interviews and Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. Findings suggest (a) grandmothers experience layered grief in that they grieve the loss of the family member, experience the pain of the surviving family members, and their own pain; (b) grandmothers experience invisible grief as their feelings are not often revealed to or recognized by their family members; (c) grandmothers experience confusion in knowing how to help and attend to their family members who are bereaved. These difficulties seem related to the family relationships, the connection to the person who died (their own child or an in-law child or grandchild), what they are grieving, and their ability to develop new roles and relationships during the bereavement period.
Degree
PhD
College and Department
David O. McKay School of Education; Counseling Psychology and Special Education
Rights
https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Robertson, Jordan, "Invisibility, Confusion, and Adjustment:Exploring the Grief Experience of Grandmothers Supporting their Bereaved Grandchildren" (2023). Theses and Dissertations. 10269.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/10269
Date Submitted
2023-12-07
Document Type
Dissertation
Handle
http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd13107
Keywords
grandmother, death out of order, invisible grief, dual process model-revised (DPM-R)
Language
english