Bereaved Parents’ Change in Mental Health during a Dyadic Diary

Abstract

Recent years have seen a shift in the number of bereavement studies examining daily grief processes, but our knowledge is still limited due to the lack of dyadic research. In this paper, we explored the change in mental health in the course of a seven-day dyadic diary with bereaved couples who lost their child during pregnancy, labor, or afterward. We conducted dyadic latent growth curve analyses. In the bereaved parents who experienced a pregnancy loss, we found reduced grief (for both partners) and anxiety symptoms (only for women) and no changes in depression symptoms or personal strength levels across the diary days. In the bereaved parents who lost their child during labor or afterward, both partners’ grief and depression symptoms and women’s anxiety symptoms stayed stable, men’s anxiety symptoms decreased, but women experienced a decline in their personal strength. Overall, negative aspects of mental health showed no sign of a dyadic diary’s harm to the bereaved parents and even pointed to increased mental health in some respects during the study. However, a feeling of reduced capacity to deal with difficulties during the diary was also observed in women. Our findings indicated that both negative and positive aspects of mental health should be considered to evaluate the impact of diary studies on the participants.

Keywords:

• Bereaved parents
• child loss
• mental health
• dyadic diary
• intensive longitudinal methods

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the research assistants and volunteers for their help in all project steps, Samet Baş for sharing the Turkish version of the Traumatic Grief Inventory-Self Report before it was published, and Maarten C. Eisma for his suggestions during the project. We are grateful to our participants for their contribution to our project.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest to declare.

Data availability statement

Given the sensitivity of the topic and dyadic data, we did not share our dataset publicly. Data can be requested from the first author.

Ethics statement

This research was approved by the Research Ethics Council of the first author’s Institution (FASS-2020-45). The participants filled in the surveys after they provided informed consent.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by a grant from the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştırma Kurumu) to the first author (Grant number: 119K404).

Notes on contributors

Asuman Buyukcan-Tetik

Asuman Buyukcan-Tetik was an Assistant Professor in the Psychology Program at Sabanci University, Turkey, during this research. She investigates major life events’ consequences for mental health and relational well-being.

Mustafa Anil Topal

Mustafa Anil Topal is a master’s student in the Psychology Program at Sabanci University, Turkey. His research focuses on romantic relationships, socioeconomic status, and grief.

Belgin Deryalar

Belgin Deryalar was a psychology master’s student at Sabanci University, Turkey, during this research. Her research interests include visual and verbal memory and grief.

Turan Deniz Ergun

Turan Deniz Ergun was a psychology master’s student at Sabanci University. His research interests include close relationships, affectionate touch, and grief.

Eda Nur Aydin

Eda Nur Aydin was an undergraduate student at Hacettepe University, Turkey, during this research. Her research interests are trauma, loss, and grief.

Bulent Aykutoglu

Bulent Aykutoglu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Nuh Naci Yazgan University, Turkey. His research focuses on basic psychological needs and mental and physical health.