Loss Journey Research Articles

Adolescent paediatric transplant patients' experiences of transition to adult services.

Transition of adolescents from paediatric to adult health services is an important aspect of caring for young people with chronic diseases. Successful transition of adolescents living with a transplant is critical for long-term survival into adulthood. This qualitative study explored the lived experience of adolescents in a South African setting following their planned and supported transition process. To explore the lived experience of transition for adolescents who had received a renal or liver transplant as a child, from paediatric to adult transplant services in the public health sector. Cape Town, South Africa. Six purposively sampled adolescents, who had participated in a planned transition from a tertiary level children's hospital to the affiliated adult hospital, were interviewed in the setting and language of their choice. The transcribed interviews were analysed using an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach. Five themes emerged: living with uncertainty in a changing world; being known, not knowing, and knowing; ambivalent relationships; the journey of loss; and being heard. Pre-transition planning, support groups, and consistency of clinicians within an accepting environment facilitated the adolescents' individuation and acceptance of self-care responsibility. Carefully planned, collaborative preparation and implementation of a facilitated psycho-supportive intervention for transition can facilitate adolescent cooperation and adherence, minimise the risk of psychological and medical sequelae, and support the adolescent in adapting to living with a transplant as an adult. This study offers insight into the importance of planned and supported transitional care of adolescents living with an organ transplant.

One Father’s Journey Toward Peace: Integrating the Qur’an Into Narrative Therapy to Address Loss From Parent–Child Estrangement

Islamic culture values strong family bonds and rupturing family relations is not often an option for family members, leading to estrangement. For Muslim parents, the failed familial repair, compounded with estrangement, may lead to isolation and become an obstacle to seeking therapeutic aid. Teaming a non-pathologizing intervention of narrative therapy (NT) with a bibliotherapy tool, the Qur’an can be explored as a therapeutic support. NT guides individuals to share their dominant problem-saturated narratives as the clinician listens for alternate strength-based narratives. This case study will augment NT to include the Qur’an as a bibliotherapy tool in reconstructing a father’s journey of loss as he seeks resolution and meaning from his daughter’s permanent estrangement. Pairing NT and the Qur’an to reshape the father’s loss narratives aids in externalizing the problem narrative and reconstructing a meaning-making narrative.

Perceptions of Chronic Stress and Mental Well-Being of African American Women Who Experience Perinatal Loss and Pregnancy Subsequent to Loss

This study explored perceived stressors and mental health complexities of African American women before, during, and after a perinatal loss and during a subsequent pregnancy. There is limited research examining multiple oppressions of African American women and their association with mental health and birth outcomes. There is even less research that explores African American women’s lived experiences of perinatal loss and pregnancy subsequent to that loss. The findings from this study will help improve and promote the health of African American women and their newborns. This research will help empower nurses by educating them on mental health complexities and perinatal loss in African American women. Through education, nurses may feel more prepared to assist patients who are navigating their loss journey.

The Lived Experience of Mothers of Children with Chronic Feeding and/or Swallowing Difficulties

The purpose of this phenomenologic study was to describe the lived experiences of seven mothers who were providing home-based care for their children with feeding and/or swallowing difficulties. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and were analysed as per Colaizzi's method of inductive reduction. Results suggest that the mothers' experiences can be understood as two continuing journeys that were not mutually exclusive. The first, "Deconstruction: A journey of loss and disempowerment," comprised three essences: (1) losing the mother dream, (2) everything changes: living life on the margins, and (3) disempowered: from mother to onlooker. The second journey was "Reconstruction: Getting through the brokenness" with the essences of (4) letting go of the dream and valuing the real, (5) self-empowered: becoming the enabler, (6) facilitating the journey, and (7) the continuing journey: negotiating balance. The phenomenon of being the mother of a child with chronic feeding and/or swallowing difficulties continued to be a transformative experience in which personal growth emerged along with chronic sorrow and periodic resurgence of struggle and loss. Implications call for healthcare professionals to incorporate maternal meanings and needs in providing appropriate family-focused intervention.

Former foster youth remember multiple placement moves: A journey of loss and hope

The purpose of this qualitative study is to better understand the experience and perceived impact of multiple placement moves on adults who lived in foster care for at least some portion of their childhoods. Network and snowball sampling resulted in interviews with 22 adults between the ages of 18 and 65 years old, who had formerly lived in foster care. The findings reveal that the experience of placement moves is not only remembered as a series of significant losses but also perceived by participants to leave imprinted negative emotional scars, particularly in the area of trusting people and building and maintaining relationships. While participants remembered the negative aspects of placement moves in very similar ways, strategies for coping and resilience were more unique to individuals. The findings are important in that prior research on placement stability has not focused on understanding the perceived consequences of the move experience on those formerly in foster care who are now adults. Theories of attachment, grief, traumatic stress and resilience, as well as the concept of family privilege, can help to inform best practice for foster care practitioners and caregivers involved in placement moves for foster children.