Social practices of encountering death: a discussion of spiritual health in grief and the significance of worldview

Abstract

This article presents cases from informal situations of grief and a project called ‘I and death’. These cases suggest that different worldviews affect the process of grief, and that children often do not get the support they need in terms of spiritual care. This affects attitudes towards grief in adulthood. Social practices of encountering death are discussed in the light of theories of spirituality, grief, mastery and the meaning of secularity. It is claimed that hospital practice strongly affirms the significance of interpersonal closeness, a combination of order and love, and the need to identify salutogenic factors in society. The discussion also seems to support the initial position that social practices of grief are worldview-dependent, and should be explored as to their spiritual significance.

Keywords:

• spirituality
• grief
• worldview

Notes

1. She refers to the computer game Super Mario Bros.

2. We use the concept of worldview in the sense of an overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world. The concept is also used about a fixed set of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or a group, but that is not presupposed in this case; a person may be more or less aware of worldviews in this latter sense.

3. A report from the first six sessions with two groups has been published in Norwegian (Hirsch and Røen 2007).

4. We refer to another article for a closer discussion of the concept of spirituality as such (Sagberg 2008).

5. The model is translated and slightly adapted by Sagberg.

6. A recently published study of children in Africa affirms (retrospectively) the meaning of trusting relationships and spiritual sources for children’s resilience (Gunnestad and Thwala 2011).

7. Taylor uses the word ‘default’ like in computer terminology – a preset programme of action and response.

8. We use the word in its most basic, philosophical sense, without referring to the theological discussion of theism.

9. Garbarino and Bedard point to a study where psychiatric patients were asked: ‘Have you given up all hope of finding meaning in your life?’ Among those who experienced major trauma prior to age 5, 74% answered ‘yes’, while among those who experienced major trauma after age 20 the figure is ‘only’ 10% (Garbarino and Bedard 1996, 470).

10. The 10 main questions or issues, corresponding to 10 sessions, are: (1) What was my first experience of death? (2) What is dying? (3) What does it mean to take leave? (4) My own funeral. (5) Conceptions of what happens in and after death. (6) What would I do if I had one year left to live? (7) What does working at the cancer ward do to my sense of humour, to my body, to sleep, to my home situation, to family and friends? (8) What is a worldview? What does it mean for working at the cancer ward? (9) Worldview and view of life. Important experiences and thoughts from my childhood. (10) What does working with suffering and death do to me? (Hirsch and Røen 2007).