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Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology
On-line version ISSN 1445-7377
Print version ISSN 2079-7222
Abstract
SPATEN, Ole Michael; BYRIALSEN, Mia Nørremark and LANGDRIDGE, Darren. Men's grief, meaning and growth: A phenomenological investigation into the experience of loss. Indo-Pac. j. phenomenol. (Online) [online]. 2011, vol.11, n.2, pp.1-15. ISSN 1445-7377. http://dx.doi.org/10.2989/ipjp.2011.11.2.4.1163.
There is a scarcity of research on men's experience of bereavement (Reiniche, 2006), particularly in relation to qualitative research that focuses on the meaning of such an experience. This paper seeks to address this scarcity by presenting the findings from a phenomenological study of the life-worlds of a small number of bereaved men. The study looked specifically at how the loss of a spouse influences men's experience of meaning, grief and loss. Three men aged between 32 and 54 years old who had all lost their partners to cancer between 3 and 7 years ago were interviewed. The hermeneutic phenomenological method of Van Manen (1990) was used to uncover three key themes, labelled grief and self-reflection, meaning of life and loss, and re-figuring the life-world. These themes are discussed in the light of broader existential concerns and the extant literature.