Making Meaning out of Loss: A Story and Study of Young Widowhood

Abstract

This study addresses the gap in the literature on the experiences of young widows and contributes to the fields of bereavement counseling and identity development. A narrative perspective of bereavement grounded the phenomenological approach of this study, which offered a context for young widows to share the descriptions of their experiences in their own words. Counselors will benefit from understanding the unique situation young widows experience as they navigate the trauma of their loss—specifically, what facilitated their process of understanding and consequently reconstructing their identity and how they engaged the task of meaning reconstruction.