Articles
The Mourning Process of the Bereaved of KAROSHI
1995 Volume 9 Issue 1 Pages 13-22
Details
1995 Volume 9 Issue 1 Pages 13-22
The purpose of the present study is to make clear the mourning process of wives or mothers after being bereaved of their husbands or sons due to sudden death from ‘KAROSHI’.
Twelve bereaved wives and three bereaved mothers were interviewed. Their average age was 53.2 (ranging in age from 40 to 69). On average five years and one month had passed since they experienced the deaths of their husbands or sons.
The results of this study show that the mourning process of the interviewees can be divided into three phases.
The first phase, the week immediately following the death, is a period of panic, mental confusion and mourning.
The second phase proceeds to the point marked by the third anniversary of the death. This point is two years after the death and is marked by the women beginning to participate in the activities of a ‘family group’ for bereaved families. Seeking the recognition of this work-related death, the women take the starting of a movement as an opportunity to join the social actctivites. Moreover, through their get-togethers with friends, they begin to take a forward-looking view of life after the deaths of their husbands or sons, taking into consideration not only their saddness but the aim of raising the children left behind.
The third phase is the present (the time of this interview). This period is characterized by social actities with an attempt to take a positive view of the bereavement experience. Moreover, they participate in the ‘family group’ activities in order to acquire the compensation for the work-related deaths not only for themselves but for those people in similar circumstances.
It is therefore clear that the third anniversary of death (two years after the deaths of their husbands or sons) is a turning point in the bereavement process of the people in question. At and beyond this point of time, it is possible to say that bereaved women of middle age being to take their bereavement experience as a positive thing and developing socialization of their personalities. Moreover, it becomes clear that children, as a type of the support systems, are a great help in the recovery process of the wives.
