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Abstract
INTRODUCTION: This article describes the use of autoethnography to explore my experience as a bereaved parent in relation to the traumatic loss of my 12-year-old child in 2009.METHODS: Employing an autoethnographic approach, this research articulates and investigates personal narratives associated with experiences of the death of my young child. Narratives offer a rich description of the event and allow data analysis where emerging themes stream from a personal experience.FINDINGS: Professionals taking control and the caring role of the community are main themes identified and analysed from these personal narratives. The findings advocate for an understanding of the needs of grieving parents at a time of extreme confusion. This article concentrates on professional first responders taking control and guiding traumatised parents when their child has a fatal event. Bereaved parents experience disorientation and traumatic confusion at the sudden death of their child. Emergency responders need to offer active listening skills and guidance.IMPLICATIONS: Professional first responders need to take control of the bereaved parent’s early journey of grief as they are likely to be in a state of deep traumatic shock, where disorientation leaves them vulnerable to lowered cognitive ability. The use of active listening skills and sensitivity can direct traumatised parents, thereby assisting the short- and long-term welfare of the family by addressing their initial needs at a time of crisis.
Highlights
This article describes the use of autoethnography to explore my experience as a bereaved parent in relation to the traumatic loss of my 12-year-old child in 2009
IMPLICATIONS: Professional first responders need to take control of the bereaved parent’s early journey of grief as they are likely to be in a state of deep traumatic shock, where disorientation leaves them vulnerable to lowered cognitive ability
The first piece of chosen text from the narrative expresses my feelings whilst in a state of anxious panic awaiting the arrival of first responders: With time of the essence, feelings of panic were rising inside, being reminded constantly by the emergency controller to keep calm
Summary
This research articulates and investigates personal narratives associated with experiences of the death of my young child. I was walking the experience of a bereaved and traumatised parent, as a registered social worker in Aotearoa New Zealand who had previously responded to other people’s traumatic events. Dyregrov and Dyregrov (2008) and Feigelman et al (2012) referred to the phenomenon of losing a child as a devastating experience for a parent Such traumatic impact can result in complicated grief due to the parent–child attachment and this may include witnessing the event. I reflect on a very personal experience, that enables an understanding of events that may occur for parents when a child dies and contributes to the research question: “What should first responders offer to traumatised parents?”. The study has been a continuous iterative learning process along a learning path of grief; arriving at a place where I have been able to share my story, adding to the research of parental grief
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