Parental grief following the death of an infant—a follow-up over one year

The course of parental bereavement during the first year following an infant's death was investigated. Also, the differences in mothers' and fathers' reactions, the differences according to the mothers' occupational role, and the similarities in couples' reactions were studied. From a total sample of 59 families, 13 families answered their questionnaires at all three time points (1, 6 and 13 months), 22 families responded at two time points, and 37 families responded at some point following the loss. Measures relating to anxiety, depression, bodily discomfort, general well being and impact of event were used at the three time points. The results showed that grief, as measured by the different inventories, decreased over time. The decrease was most evident from 6 to 13 months, and most prominent in women. A considerable number of the parents were still actively dealing with the loss all through the first year of bereavement. In most couples the mother reported most distress. Mothers were significantly more depressed than fathers at all time points, and mothers also had significantly higher anxiety and lower general health at 1 and 13 months, and intrusive scores of 1 and 6 months. Women at home evidenced more grief at all three time points than women employed outside the home. A high or low score in one spouse was more strongly correlated with a similar score in the other at 1 and 13 months, than at 6 months. The implications for counselling of parents, with special emphasis on the employment situation of the mother, is emphasized.     

Discovery and Revitalization of “Feeling of Hometown” from a Disaster Site Inhabitant's Continuous Engagement in Reconstruction Work: Ethnographic Interviews with a Radiation Decontamination Worker Over 5 Years Following the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident1

After hometown loss due to the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident, many radiation decontamination workers started to engage in the reconstruction of their hometown. However, little is known regarding the meaning of experience of engaging in such work. We describe the process of such experience through a series of ethnographic interviews over 5 years with a radiation decontamination worker. The process was classified into the following three periods: “recovery of lost land by inhabitants' own hands,” “goal loss and semiotic trap in pursuit of recovery,” and “revitalization of feeling of hometown.” Consequently, the informant overcame the contradiction theorized as a “semiotic trap” that radiation decontamination for physical recovery would make his return to home impossible, and updated his narrative to the revitalization of “feeling of hometown” through continuous engagement in the work by creating a sense for transplacement, in which the individual focuses on the psychological aspects of his/her hometown instead of the physical aspects. Psychological reconstruction for disaster victims requires the discovery and revitalization of feeling of hometown rather than the completion of physical reconstruction.