Date

4-2016

Department

Counseling Department

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Chair

Lisa S. Sosin

Keywords

Ambivalent Marriage, Bereavement, Coping, Grief, Widow

Disciplines

Counseling | Counselor Education

Abstract

Using a case study method, the researcher analyzed the coping skills of 10 recently bereaved widows who experienced ambivalent marriages and how they used those learned adaptive coping skills to process loss. The multicase study provided the methodological framework for qualitative inquiry using interpretive phenomenological analysis based on journal entries and brief interviews recorded prior to the death of the spouse and semistructured interviews that took place 4-18 weeks following the spouse’s death. The subject of the inquiry was the grief experience of 10 widows, and the object of the study was coping theory. Participants demonstrated cognitive adaptation, problem-focused coping, and restoration orientation as premorbid coping skills, and they used cognitive adaptation, positive reappraisal, and restoration orientation as postmorbid coping skills. This study shows benefit for both the academician and the clinician.

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