TY - JOUR
T1 - Hope, loneliness and sense of coherence among bereaved parents
AU - Einav, Michal
AU - Margalit, Malka
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2020/4/2
Y1 - 2020/4/2
N2 - Coping with the loss of a child is a challenging and difficult experience that disrupts the lives of the surviving parents and the fabric of the family. Our goal is to identify the factors that help bereaved parents cope with this loss and introduce hope and future perspectives into their lives. Our sample consisted of 81 parents (30 fathers and 51 mothers), who completed questionnaires on the following topics: family climate, loneliness, sense of coherence and hope. In addition, interviews were conducted with six parents to further clarify the quantitative results. A moderated mediation model revealed that increased levels of loneliness among the parents predicted lower levels of hope. However, their emotional resources in terms of their sense of coherence mediated this relationship. In addition, the number of years since the loss moderated the negative relationship between loneliness and the parents’ emotional resources. It can be concluded that the negative impact of loneliness on parents’ sense of coherence declined over time. The interviews conducted extend the understanding of these results, as parents described their ability to continue with their lives and identified their goals in terms of the hope theory, alongside their ongoing pain. Finally, the therapeutic implications of the results we obtained are discussed.
AB - Coping with the loss of a child is a challenging and difficult experience that disrupts the lives of the surviving parents and the fabric of the family. Our goal is to identify the factors that help bereaved parents cope with this loss and introduce hope and future perspectives into their lives. Our sample consisted of 81 parents (30 fathers and 51 mothers), who completed questionnaires on the following topics: family climate, loneliness, sense of coherence and hope. In addition, interviews were conducted with six parents to further clarify the quantitative results. A moderated mediation model revealed that increased levels of loneliness among the parents predicted lower levels of hope. However, their emotional resources in terms of their sense of coherence mediated this relationship. In addition, the number of years since the loss moderated the negative relationship between loneliness and the parents’ emotional resources. It can be concluded that the negative impact of loneliness on parents’ sense of coherence declined over time. The interviews conducted extend the understanding of these results, as parents described their ability to continue with their lives and identified their goals in terms of the hope theory, alongside their ongoing pain. Finally, the therapeutic implications of the results we obtained are discussed.
KW - Bereavement
KW - Hope
KW - Loneliness
KW - Moderated mediation
KW - Sense of coherence
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85083734447&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph17082797
DO - 10.3390/ijerph17082797
M3 - ???researchoutput.researchoutputtypes.contributiontojournal.article???
C2 - 32325645
AN - SCOPUS:85083734447
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 17
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
IS - 8
M1 - 2797
ER -