Loss, Grief, and the Search for Significance: Toward a Model of Meaning Reconstruction in Bereavement

Constructivist theories recently have begun to inform understandings of grief, emphasizing the role of meaning making in adaptation to bereavement. In this article we review empirical studies using qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods, investigating how three activities of meaning reconstruction are involved in the grieving process: sense making, benefit finding, and identity change. In particular, we consider how critical processes have been operationally defined and how study methods and designs have constrained what can be concluded from this burgeoning field of research. We conclude by positing an integrated model of meaning reconstruction pathways as a heuristic guide to further research and briefly note the implications of this model for clinical practice.