Phenomenological Description of Girls’ Grief Reactions to the Loss of the Father

Document Type : Original Research

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Psychology Department, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, Tabriz, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Psychology Department, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, Tabriz, Iran

3 MS in General Psychology, The teacher of East Azarbaijan Province Education Organization, Tabriz, Iran

Abstract

The loss of a parent or both is one of the most stress-causing events that a child or an adolescent may experience in his/ her life, and often cause in unpleasant physical and mental outcomes. Awareness of the death of a person’s loved ones, leads to grief reactions, the length of which can last for weeks or even for months. The research aimed to describe the grief reactions of the girls toward the death of their fathers, phenomenologically. The context of the study was the adelecent girls of Tabriz (2019), who had lost their fathers in their childhood due to an illness, and was living with their mothers. The participants were selected through purposive sampling. The participants of the research, due to reaching data saturation, were seven girls aged 15-18. The data were collected through semi-structured interview. The interview texts were analyzed using the seven-phased Colizze analysis method. Based on the findings two main categories of “initial reactions” (including shock, ejection, and confusion subcategories), and “constant reactions” (including sadness and adjustment subcategories) were identified. The grief reactions of the girls to the loss of their fathers were described as both “initial” and “constant” reactions. It was suggested to the psychologists and counselors that, they should pay attention to different dimensions of the grief reactions that the child or the adolescent girls experience, facing the loss of their fathers in the process of evaluation and therapy.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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Biannual Journal of Applied Counseling
Volume 13, Issue 1
July 2023
Pages 63-74

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History

  • Receive Date: 29 May 2023
  • Revise Date: 19 July 2023
  • Accept Date: 22 July 2023

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