City Research Online

Abstract

This article explores the ways in which bereaved mothers framed experiences of continuing bonds with their stillborn child and aims to enrich an understanding of maternal sense-making. Four interviews were carried out with bereaved mothers and approached using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, so as to offer deeper insight into their individual experiences. Themes which arose from the analysis include: “Continuing bonds and the female body;” “Conflicted bonding with the shape-shifting baby;” and “Experiencing connection in the life beyond loss.” These findings point to a tension between restorative meaning-making and detachment in maternal sense-making following stillbirth and have implications for clinicians working with bereaved mothers.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Publisher Keywords:	stillbirth, bereavement, maternal experience, meaning-making, continuing bonds
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology R Medicine > RG Gynecology and obstetrics
Departments:	School of Health & Psychological Sciences > Psychology

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