Grief interrupted: the experience of loss among incarcerated women.

Publication/Presentation Date

4-1-2011

Abstract

Incarcerated women face a number of stressors apart from the actual incarceration. Nearly half of all women in prison experience the death of a loved one during their incarceration. Our purpose for this study was to explore the experience of grief and loss among incarcerated women using a phenomenological method. Our study approach followed van Manen's method of phenomenology and Munhall's description of existential lifeworlds. Our analysis revealed four existential lifeworlds: temporality: frozen in time; spatiality: no place, no space to grieve; corporeality: buried emotions; and relationality: never alone, yet feeling so lonely. The findings generated from this study can help mental health providers as well as correctional professionals develop policies and programs that facilitate the grief process of incarcerated women within the confines of imprisonment.

Volume

21

Issue

4

First Page

454

Last Page

464

ISSN

1552-7557

Disciplines

Business Administration, Management, and Operations | Health and Medical Administration | Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods

PubMedID

20581074

Department(s)

Administration and Leadership

Document Type

Article

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