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Estudos e Pesquisas em Psicologia

On-line version ISSN 1808-4281

Abstract

REIS, Cristine Gabrielle da Costa dos; QUINTANA, Alberto Manuel  and  NARDINO, Fernanda. Religiosity and Spirituality in the Process of Grief of Parents whose Children have Died. Estud. pesqui. psicol. [online]. 2021, vol.21, n.1, pp. 136-155. ISSN 1808-4281.  http://dx.doi.org/10.12957/epp.2021.59375.

Towards the complexity of factors involving the loss of a child, this article aimed to comprehend the role of religiosity and spirituality in the process of grief of parents whose children have died. Therefore, 11 interviews were conducted with parents who had lost their children in a range of 4 months to 1 year and 4 months. Data - which were collected from May to October of 2015 - were analyzed from the perspective of the thematic content analysis. The results showed that parents would attribute the cause of death to God's will, which would give them a reason for the loss. Based on the belief of life after death, they would believe that their children could be alive in another dimension, which stimulated the hope for meeting again. The relationship with faith was varying so that some parents had driven into religiosity, while others had questioned their previous beliefs and others had risen against God. Thus, it is emphasized the necessity of considering subjective aspects with tools that might help in the elaboration of the loss, in order to promote an adequate handling of parental grief.

Keywords : death; bereavement; spirituality; religion.

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