Being widow

The thematic-story-drawing as resource for intervention for grief about sudden death of their partners

Abstract

Widowhood goes beyond the physical loss and marital status, the person goes through a process of searching for meaning in the new reality. In this study, the objective was to analyze the thematic-story-drawing as a resource to understand the grief situation in widows due to the sudden death of their partner. The clinical-qualitative method was used. Six widows  has participated, all of them having the sudden death of their partners in the last 2 years, age between 34 and 52 years old and with children aged 0 to 18 that dependent on them. The instruments used were: two semi-structured interviews and the thematic story-drawing with a feedback session. The results were grouped into four categories of analysis: romantic relationship and grief – two participants were in a new relationship; motherhood in the widowhood process – all participants canceled their grief to take care of their children's pain, placing them as the center of their lives; support network – one widow has not been able to count on a support network since the death of her husband and two were able to rely on family and friends initially, but after the loss of their parents they became the family's support network; re-elaboration of the loss after carrying out the thematic-story-drawing – all participants perceived the drawing as a good resource to understand their pain. It was concluded that the story-drawing was a therapeutic approach that helped in the elaboration of grief, enabling widows to see themselves, contributing to their mental health.