Continuing bonds of bereaved Muslims mothers with their young dead child

Akhlas Ismail1, Rachel Dekel1

  • 1The Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.

Death Studies
|October 25, 2023
PubMed

Based on continuing bonds theory, this research examined the experience and manifestations of continuing bonds of bereaved Muslim mothers with their children who died in home accidents. This qualitative phenomenological study is based on interviews with 15 bereaved mothers (aged 28-46 years) whose children (aged 1-6 years) died 2-7 years before the interviews. Analysis revealed three themes: efforts to continue the physical bonds, challenges in the continuing bonds in cases of traumatic death, and belief in afterlife as the main element of the continuing bonds. The traumatic circumstances of the death challenged the ability to maintain the bond based on positive memories without it being overwhelmed by the traumatic memories of the last moments of the child's life. Religious beliefs played an important role in the characteristics of the bond. Maintaining the bond requires professionals to provide a therapeutic environment where bereaved mothers feel safe talking about it.

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