Apart from these few studies, however, the literature does not appear to offer a more in-depth understanding about the consequences of discrepancy between personal and environmental constructions of this loss on its personal construction. In 2006, Willick reiterated that this rejection does indeed occur in some women, at least temporarily, and referred to their difficulty in constructing a personal meaning for their loss. In 1983, for example, Lovell argued that for women who experience SB, the environment’s denial of the identity of the lost figure as a baby and the women’s identities as mothers can induce women to make those rejections, themselves. Studies concerning women who have experienced SB-albeit not necessarily with a focus on the process of meaning reconstruction-have found that they do undergo this process.
The process of meaning reconstruction following SB has attracted limited research to date. In these circumstances, SB in Israel can be interpreted not only as a personal loss, but also as a failure to fulfill an essential social objective. Second, widespread ideological beliefs promoting childbirth among the Jewish population in Israel make motherhood a virtually unquestioned national imperative ( Remennick, 2000). For Jews in Israel, death-related matters-burial and mourning practices-are managed by the religious Orthodox establishment, so this message affects the secular population, as well. In these respects, Israeli religious authorities reinforce the social lack of recognition of SB and its attendant mourning. Furthermore, Halachic Judaic law stipulates that in the event of SB, mourning customs should not be performed ( Otzar Hahochma, 1523). In terms of the cultural context, in Israel two unique factors affect the experience of SB as it occurs in the Jewish population: (1) the position Judaism takes in relation to SB, and (2) the meaning of motherhood in Israel.įirst, following the guidelines of the religious Orthodox establishment, Jewish Israelis bury stillborns in mass graves parents are neither present nor notified as to the burial site ( Gazit, 2007). In terms of the social context, loss and bereavement studies refer to the anguish felt by women following SB as disenfranchised grief ( Kelley & Trinidad, 2012)-that is, one in which individuals experience a sense of loss but others delegitimize their feelings and deny their social right to mourn ( Doka, 1989). Thus, meaning is constructed in relation to the sociocultural context from which an individual draws and to which he or she returns for validation ( Neimeyer, Prigerson, & Davies, 2002). Meaning reconstruction occurs at the junction between the self and the outer world. These theories contend that the individual constructs meaning in relation to events engulfing him or her when loss occurs, meaning reconstruction, an essential psychosocial process, commences ( Neimeyer, 2001). Implications for theory and practice are discussed.Ĭonstructivist theories, which provide a strong analytical framework for the study of loss and bereavement, inform this article. Thus, ambiguity, uncertainty, and doubt infused women’s experience of SB. Its findings suggest that for these women, the lost figure and the loss in general engender ambiguity both internally-that is, within the psyche of women themselves-and externally, within the women’s social environment. Specifically, the article focuses on in-depth interviews with 10 women who experienced SB. Within the domain of qualitative research, the current article draws on phenomenology and the research method that has emerged from this approach.
This tack may offer the opportunity to examine the consequences of the discrepancy between personal and environmental constructions of this loss on its personal construction and to learn about the essence of the loss. Constructivist theories recently assuming a central place in bereavement studies inform this article, which aims to identify the meaning that women who experience SB ascribe to their loss in general and to the lost figure. However, their grief is often disenfranchised and they are denied the social right to mourn their loss.
Stillbirth (SB), death of a fetus in late stages of pregnancy or during birth, usually leads to extended and intense grief among women.
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