Abstract

In the current study, the aim was to examine the loss of father and bereavement among young Turkish adults. For this aim, semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven young adults. The research question was “How do young adults experience father loss and bereavement?” The data was analyzed with Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. In this article, four of the emerging themes were explained in detail. These themes involve the symbolic meanings of father loss, emotions experienced after losing the father, coping with and adapting to father loss and factors making the mourning process harder. The young adults viewed their fathers as an important source of warmth, caring, protection, soothing, guidance and authority. Therefore, they reported apparent difficulties in fulfilling these needs. The theme emotions experienced after losing the father includes emotions such as sadness, loneliness, emptiness, yearning, fear, relief, anger, and guilt, and regarding the emotions anger and guilt, some special factors exacerbated their intensity. The third theme, coping with and adapting to father loss involved emotional preparation to loss, making meaning, finding emotional outlets to cope with feelings, avoidance, getting support, romantic partner as a substitute and setting goals and ideals to overcome the burden of grief. The fourth theme included some personality characteristics such as introversion and emotionality, the broken mother and relationship style with the father. The results and their implications were discussed in the final part of the article.

Keywords

• the loss of father
• grief
• qualitative study
• Interpretative phenomenological analysis

Genç Yetişkinlerde Baba Kaybı ve Yas: Nitel bir Çalışma

Abstract

Bu çalışmada, genç yetişkinlerin baba kaybı ve yas deneyimini derinlemesine incelemek hedeflenmiştir. Bu amaçla, yedi genç yetişkin ile yarı yapılandırılmış derinlemesine görüşmeler gerçekleştirilerek, “Genç yetişkinlerde baba kaybı nasıl deneyimlenmektedi r?” sorusunu cevaplamak amaçlanmıştır. Yapılan görüşmeler, Yorumlayıcı Fenomonolojik Analiz (Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis) ile analiz edilmiştir. Bu makalede elde edilen temaların dört tanesi ayrıntılandırılarak sunulmuştur. Bu temaları, baba kaybının sembolik anlamları, baba kaybının ardından hissedilen duygular, babasız bir yaşamla başa çıkmak ve uyum sağlamak ve yas sürecini zorlaştıran faktörler oluşturmaktadır. Baba kaybının sembolik anlamları, babalarının ölümünün genç yetişkinlerin iç dünyasında açığa çıkardığı anlamları ifade etmektedir. Sonuçlara göre, genç yetişkinler, babalarını önemli bir “sıcaklık, ilgi, koruma, sakinleştirme, rehberlik ve otorite” kaynağı olarak değerlendirmekte ve ölümünün ardından bu ihtiyaçlarını karşılamakta belirgin zorluklar ile karşı karşıya gelmektedirler. Baba kaybının ardından hissedilen duygular, yas sürecinde hissedilen üzüntü, yalnızlık, boşluk, özlem, korku, rahatlama, öfke ve suçluluk gibi duyguları kapsamakta; öfke ve suçluluk duygularının ise özellikle şiddetlendiği bazı özel durumların varlığına işaret etmektedir. Üçüncü tema, babasız bir yaşamla başa çıkmak ve uyum sağlamak ise kayba önsel hazırlık, yaşantıyı anlamlandırmaya çalışma, duygusal dışavurum, kaçınma, sosyal destek alma, babanın yerini dolduracak romantik ilişkiler arama ile yeni ideal ve hedefler oluşturma gibi başa çıkma yöntemlerini kapsamaktadır. Dördüncü tema yas sürecini zorlaştıran faktörler, bazı kişilik özellikleri (içedönüklük, duygusallık, depresiflik) ile annenin çökkünlüğü, baba ile ilişki kurma tarzı gibi faktörleri içermektedir. Temaların içerikleri, Türkiye’deki genç yetişkinlerin, gelişimsel özellikleri ve yaşadıkları kültür ile ilişki içinde ortaya çıkan deneyimleri hakkında aydınlatıcı bilgiler açığa çıkarmıştır. Temaların nasıl yorumlanabileceği, makalenin son bölümünde tartışılmıştır.

Keywords

• kayıp
• baba kaybı
• yas
• nitel çalışma
• yorumlayıcı fenomenolojik analiz

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