The Life Experience of Middle-aged Women Who Lost Their Spouses to Cancer

• Main Authors: Tung, Chieh-Ju, 董潔如
• Other Authors: Chang, Li-Li
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2016
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/28652761853938706964

碩士 === 國立屏東大學 === 教育心理與輔導學系碩士班 === 104 === The purpose of this study is to explore the grief experiences and adjustment process of middle-aged women who lost their spouses to cancer, as well as their total life experiences under cultural context. Narrative research method was employed to conduct in-depth interviews with two participants. Their life stories were presented with holistic-content analysis. Under the context of Chinese family culture, the life experience of middle-aged women who lost their spouses to cancer mainly presents on: (a) Finding one’s true self and value of existence through working. (b) Treasure the moment living with children. Respect their decision for the future. (c) Re-thinking traditional model on the characters of women. (d) Reconstruct the meaning of death. Enjoy every moment of life. In this study, we use Dual Process Model (DPM) to describe the grief experiences and adjustment process of the participants. Two types of stressors are identified in the model: (a) Loss-oriented - Mental dimension: Sadness, helplessness, worries and anxiety, regrets and compunction, guilt and self-reproach, etc. - Physical and behavioral dimension: Impairment of immune system, appetite disturbances, sleep disturbances, crying, calling for the deceased spouses and treasuring objects that belonged to the deceased, etc. - Cognitive dimension: Disbelief, sense of the presence of the deceased, preoccupied by memories of the deceased, etc. (b) Restoration-oriented - Cognitive dimension: Empowering for their children. - Behavioral dimension: Concentration on work, worship or meditation, travel with children, future planning, avoidance, etc. In the early stage of mourning process, participants tended to oscillate highly between “loss” and “restoration”. As time goes by, they leaned toward “restoration” gradually.