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The significance of meaning-making, agency and social support: a narrative study of how poor women cope with perinatal loss
Perinatal loss (stillbirth or the death of a neonate) can result in considerable psycho-social disruption for mothers. As women grieve, they try to make meaning of the death of their baby. In contexts of social and economic deprivation, perinatal loss often occurs alongside other difficulties which...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Psychology
2015
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| _version_ | 1867613260984877056 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Sturrock, Colleen |
| author2 | Swartz, Sally |
| author_browse | Sturrock, Colleen Swartz, Sally |
| author_facet | Swartz, Sally Sturrock, Colleen |
| author_sort | Sturrock, Colleen |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Perinatal loss (stillbirth or the death of a neonate) can result in considerable psycho-social disruption for mothers. As women grieve, they try to make meaning of the death of their baby. In contexts of social and economic deprivation, perinatal loss often occurs alongside other difficulties which may affect and limit women's ability to make meaning. A narrative approach was used to explore how meaning-making functions in such contexts. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 women who had experienced perinatal loss while attending a state maternity hospital. Narratives which the mothers constructed of the event were examined in order to understand what meanings they derived from the loss, and how these were (or not) achieved. These narratives were often linked to other stories of pervasive life difficulties. Despite their difficult contexts, the bereaved mothers engaged in meaning-making in similar ways to those described in previous studies in more affluent settings: they attempted to integrate the loss with their identity and goals, they affirmed the baby as a real person to be mourned and they searched for reasons for the loss. The effect of their contexts on meaning-making was mediated by social support and personal agency. Where one or both of these were present, the bereaved mothers were able to find meaning in their loss; women who had neither seemed unable to do so. Those who portrayed themselves as agentic were able to reflect on their experience and make decisions to change their lives. Mothers with strong social support made meaning through conversations, social validation of the loss and social help which mitigated against the sense of helplessness engendered by their loss and circumstances. It is recommended that hospital and counselling services implement practices which help to build or consolidate personal agency and social support to facilitate successful meaning-making following perinatal loss. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/14336 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:33:19.547Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publishDateRange | 2015 |
| publishDateSort | 2015 |
| publisher | Department of Psychology |
| publisherStr | Department of Psychology |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/14336 The significance of meaning-making, agency and social support: a narrative study of how poor women cope with perinatal loss Sturrock, Colleen Swartz, Sally Clinical Psychology perinatal loss grief poverty meaning-making social support Perinatal loss (stillbirth or the death of a neonate) can result in considerable psycho-social disruption for mothers. As women grieve, they try to make meaning of the death of their baby. In contexts of social and economic deprivation, perinatal loss often occurs alongside other difficulties which may affect and limit women's ability to make meaning. A narrative approach was used to explore how meaning-making functions in such contexts. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 women who had experienced perinatal loss while attending a state maternity hospital. Narratives which the mothers constructed of the event were examined in order to understand what meanings they derived from the loss, and how these were (or not) achieved. These narratives were often linked to other stories of pervasive life difficulties. Despite their difficult contexts, the bereaved mothers engaged in meaning-making in similar ways to those described in previous studies in more affluent settings: they attempted to integrate the loss with their identity and goals, they affirmed the baby as a real person to be mourned and they searched for reasons for the loss. The effect of their contexts on meaning-making was mediated by social support and personal agency. Where one or both of these were present, the bereaved mothers were able to find meaning in their loss; women who had neither seemed unable to do so. Those who portrayed themselves as agentic were able to reflect on their experience and make decisions to change their lives. Mothers with strong social support made meaning through conversations, social validation of the loss and social help which mitigated against the sense of helplessness engendered by their loss and circumstances. It is recommended that hospital and counselling services implement practices which help to build or consolidate personal agency and social support to facilitate successful meaning-making following perinatal loss. 2015-10-25T17:08:39Z 2015-10-25T17:08:39Z 2012 Master Thesis Masters MA http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14336 eng application/pdf Department of Psychology Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Clinical Psychology perinatal loss grief poverty meaning-making social support Sturrock, Colleen The significance of meaning-making, agency and social support: a narrative study of how poor women cope with perinatal loss |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | The significance of meaning-making, agency and social support: a narrative study of how poor women cope with perinatal loss |
| title_full | The significance of meaning-making, agency and social support: a narrative study of how poor women cope with perinatal loss |
| title_fullStr | The significance of meaning-making, agency and social support: a narrative study of how poor women cope with perinatal loss |
| title_full_unstemmed | The significance of meaning-making, agency and social support: a narrative study of how poor women cope with perinatal loss |
| title_short | The significance of meaning-making, agency and social support: a narrative study of how poor women cope with perinatal loss |
| title_sort | significance of meaning making agency and social support a narrative study of how poor women cope with perinatal loss |
| topic | Clinical Psychology perinatal loss grief poverty meaning-making social support |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14336 |
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