When the green leaves fall before the yellow ones: a Swedish qualitative inquiry on coping with parental grief

Parental bereavement research has largely examined parents’ grieving processes and reactions. Studies show that the grieving process is influenced by both individual and sociocultural factors. However, there is limited research on identifying meaning-making coping methods within a cultural context. This study aimed to gain a deeper understanding of the meaning-making coping elements used by a group of Swedish parents whose child has died. We employed a qualitative research design, using the Coleman and Unrau thematic analysis method to analyse eight semi-structured interviews. The study found that the main meaning-making coping strategies were ‘talking and praying to God’, ‘spiritualism’, ‘feeling a greater emotional belonging to nature’, ‘thinking of one’s life in a larger context’, ‘talking to others about one’s feelings’, and ‘talking to the child in one’s own thoughts’. Therefore, both religious/spiritual coping mechanisms and secular existential methods of meaning-focused coping were employed by our participants in Sweden to adjust to the crisis. Swedish culture likely affects the grieving parents’ coping styles for dealing with the death of an offspring. The results may support healthcare practitioners, loss psychologists, and therapists in improving their bereavement care and interventions.