Parental Grief After Traumatic Death: A Qualitative Study In Malaysia

• Main Author: Mohamed Hussin, Nur Atikah
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: H1-99 Social sciences (General)
• Online Access: http://eprints.usm.my/32236/1/NUR_ATIKAH_MOHAMED_HUSSIN_24%28NN%29.pdf; http://eprints.usm.my/32236/
• Institution: Universiti Sains Malaysia

Kematian anak merupakan antara pengalaman terburuk dalam kehidupan ibu bapa. Kajian menunjukkan bahawa kematian anak boleh menyebabkan kesan yang buruk terhadap kesihatan, psikologi dan sosial ibu bapa. Namun begitu, kebanyakan kajian adalah berlandaskan budaya Barat. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk memahami pengalaman ibu bapa yang kematian anak secara tragis di Malaysia, cara menangani, sistem sokongan dan corak kesedihan. Kajian ini mengaplikasikan reka bentuk kajian fenomenologi terhadap 11 orang ibu bapa yang kematian anak akibat kes kemalangan (n=9) dan di bunuh (n=2). Ibu bapa telah di temubual secara berseorangan. Kajian kualitatif ini juga melibatkan temubual secara terbuka. Soalan-soalan temubual adalah berkaitan dengan pengalaman, cara menangani, sistem sokongan dan corak kesedihan. ATLAS t.i telah di gunakan dalam menganalisis tema utama dan pengesahan analisis data. Beberapa tema yang wujud berkaitan dengan respon ibu bapa adalah tidak pasti, menyalahkan, tidak percaya dan tiada harapan apabila mereka tahu tentang keadaan anak mereka. Selepas kematian anak secara tragis, ibu bapa menggunakan membuat pertimbangan (n=6), mencari kebaikan (n=3), membanding dengan orang lain (n=6), masculinity coping (n=2), menggunakan agama (n=6), venting coping (n=7), menyelesaikan masalah (n=3), penafian (n=5), mencari sistem sokongan (n=5), beradaptasi (n=3) dan aktiviti fizikal (n=3). Mereka juga melaporkan menerima sokongan daripada pasangan mereka (n=4), keluarga (n=6) dan rakan-rakan (n=3). The death of a child is one of the most painful experiences to the parents. There are studies that observed the effects of parental grief to the health, psychological and social condition of the bereaved parents. Yet, most of the studies were conducted in Western culture. This study is aimed at understanding the experience of bereaved parents in Malaysia, the coping mechanisms, the support system received and the grieving patterns after the traumatic death of their children. This study employed phenomenology study as a research design. This qualitative study involved open-ended interviews administered to 11 bereaved parents who experienced the death of their child due to accidents (n=9) and homicide (n=2). The parents were interviewed individually. The interviews comprised of items that assessed the experience, coping mechanism, support system and their grieving patterns. The results were analyzed using thematic analysis. ATLAS.ti was used to identify the themes and verified the analysis. Some of themes discovered were bereaved parents were feeling uncertainty, blaming, difficult to accept and feeling hopelessness when they learned about their deceased children`s condition. After the traumatic death, the bereaved parents coped with the losses by using sense making (n=6), benefits finding (n=3), compared with others (n=6), masculinity coping (n=2), religion coping (n=6), venting coping (n=7), problem solving (n=3), avoidance coping (n=5), seeking support coping (n=5), adaptive coping (n=3) and physical activities (n=3). They also reported to receive support from their spouses (n=4), family (n=6) and friends (n=3).