Using the biographical grid method to explore parental grief following the death of a child

Abstract

A child's death is regarded as among the most traumatic, incomprehensible and devastating of losses, with the potential to precipitate a crisis of meaning for bereaved parents. While complications in grieving are a significant possibility, bereaved parents can also respond in very constructive and adaptive ways to the death of a child. Creative and ethically sensitive assessment methods are needed to capture the diversity and complexity of parental grief responses. This article uses a case example approach to explain the biographical grid method (BGM), a constructivist-narrative model for assessment, and its use in the exploration of parental grief responses to the death of a child.

Keywords:

• parent
• bereavement
• biographical grid
• constructivist-narrative
• meaning-making