Fathers' grief in action

A child's death is a traumatic life-altering event, which significantly affects parents' mental health and well-being. Literature provides insights on parents' grief; however, less is known about how fathers cope with grief due to underrepresentation in research studies. This article presents selected findings about how fathers grieve, which emerged from a phenomenological study aimed at describing fathers' lived experience of bereavement. Participants described how societal norms influence their grief as men, and shared actionable ways they cope with profound grief. Various practical, creative, and thinking actions helped participants grieve and connect with their child's loss. Findings advance nursing knowledge of how fathers grieve. Findings can inform nursing practice; such that mental health nurses are empowered to destigmatize men's grief and promote fathers' well-being after the profound loss of a child.