My dissertation is about the grieving process after the loss of a close family member. I am interested in how the family members dealt with the mourning process, what their attitudes towards the death were, what were the positive and negative factors in the mourning process, how they view the loss today, and where they see the role of social work within the topic of mourning. In the research I included adult residents of the Republic of Slovenia who experienced the loss before November 2021.
In the theoretical introduction, I first focus on the topic of death and the mourning process. I have also subdivided the latter according to the phase of life in which the bereaved find themselves at the time of the mourning process. I have divided them into the mourning of children and young people, the mourning of parents and the mourning of the elderly. Later on I have focused on the topic of the family facing the loss and the life of the bereaved after the loss. In the final part of the theoretical introduction, I discuss the role of social work in the mourning process.
The empirical part includes the presentation of the research problem, the research questions and the methodology used. This is followed by findings, discussion and conclusions. The research gave me the insight that relatives feel anxiety when they think about death. They realise that life is fleeting, that death is part of life, and they try to accept it. The grieving process was very different for everyone. The shock phase is the easiest to identify, the other phases intertwine or overlap. There were both negative and positive factors. Relatives were more likely to identify positive factors. Among the most important was the help and support of friends and family. Many relatives perceived a change in family dynamics, that the family is feeling more connected to each other. They see the role of social work mainly in talking and listening to the bereaved.
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