Grief among near-death experiencers: pathways through religion and meaning

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to examine prolonged grief symptomatology among individuals who reported near-death experiences (NDEs). Following Park's meaning-making model, religion and meaning-making were also examined as possible pathways associating NDE variables with grief. Online survey data from 22 bereaved adults who met the criteria for NDE were examined. Correlation analyses indicated that the NDE variables were associated with grief as well as meaning-making and religious variables. These findings suggest that NDEs produce positive effects on the grieving process by reducing the grievers' use of negative religious coping and helping them find meaning from their loss.

Keywords:

• grief
• religious coping
• meaning
• near-death experience

Acknowledgements

We express our gratitude to the Near-Death Research Foundation, Dr. Cheryl Fracasso, Dr. PMH Atwater, and the NDE community for their support of this project. We also want to thank Sabrina Callan, Taylor Jewett, Sarah Troxel, and Emily Ohriner for assisting us on this study.