Decision-making in a death investigation: Emotions, families and the coroner

The role of the coroner in common law countries such as Australia, England, Canada and New Zealand is to preside over death investigations where there is uncertainty as to the manner of death, a need to identify the deceased, a death of unknown cause, or a violent or unnatural death. The vast majority of these deaths are not suspicious and thus require coroners to engage with grieving families who have been thrust into a legal process through the misfortune of a loved one's sudden or unexpected death. In this research, 10 experienced coroners discussed how they negotiated the grief and trauma evident in a death investigation. In doing so, they articulated two distinct ways in which legal officers engaged with emotions, which are also evident in the literature. The first engages the script of judicial dispassion, articulating a hierarchical relationship between reason and emotion, while the second introduces an ethic of care via the principles of therapeutic jurisprudence, and thus offers a challenge to the role of emotion in the personae of the professional judicial officer. By using Hochschild's work on the sociology of emotions, this article discusses the various ways in which coroners manage the emotion of a death investigation through emotion work. While emotional distance may be an understandable response by coroners to the grief and trauma experienced by families and directed at cleaner coronial decision-making, the article concludes that coroners may be better served by offering emotions such as sympathy, consideration and compassion directly to the family in those situations where families are struggling to accept, or are resistant to, coroners' decisions.

Eron aika : Tyttärien kertomuksia ikääntyneen vanhemman kuolemasta

There is a relative absence of sociological and cultural research on how people deal with the death of a family member in the contemporary western societies. Research on this topic has been dominated by the experts of psychology, psychiatry and therapy, who mention the social context only in passing, if at all. This gives an impression that the white westerners bereavement experience is a purely psychological phenomenon, an inner journey, which follows a natural, universal path. Yet, as Tony Walter (1999) states, ignoring the influence of culture not only impoverishes the understanding of those work with bereaved people, but it also impoverishes sociology and cultural studies by excluding from their domain a key social phenomenon. This study explores the cultural dimension of grief through narratives told by fifteen of recently bereaved Finnish women. Focussing on one sex only, the study rests on the assumption of the gendered nature of bereavement experience. However, the aim of the study is not to pinpoint the gender differences in grief and mourning, but to shed light on women s ways of dealing with the loss of a loved one in a social context. Furthermore, the study focuses on a certain kind of loss: the death of an elderly parent. Due to the growth in the life expectancy rate, this has presumably become the most typical type of bereavement in contemporary, ageing societies. Most of population will face the death of a parent as they reach the middle years of the life course. The data of this study is gathered with interviews, in which the interviewees were invited to tell a narrative of their bereavement. Narrative constitutes a central concept in this study. It refers to a particular form of talk, which is organised around consequential events. But there are also other, deeper layers that have been added to this concept. Several scholars see narratives as the most important way in which we make sense of experience. Personal narratives provide rich material for mapping the interconnections between individual and culture. As a form of thought, narrative marries singular circumstances with shared expectations and understandings that are learned through participation in a specific culture (Garro & Mattingly 2000). This study attempts to capture the cultural dimension of narrative with the concept of script , which originates in cognitive science (Schank & Abelson 1977) and has recently been adopted to narratology (Herman 2002). Script refers to a data structure that informs how events usually unfold in certain situations. Scripts are used in interpreting events and representing them verbally to others. They are based on dominant forms of knowledge that vary according to time and place. The questions that were posed in this study are the following. What kind of experiences bereaved daughters narrate? What kind of cultural scripts they employ as they attempt to make sense of these experiences? How these scripts are used in their narratives? It became apparent that for the most of the daughters interviewed in this study the single most important part of the bereavement narrative was to form an account of how and why the parent died. They produced lengthy and detailed descriptions of the last stage of a parent s life in contrast with the rest of the interview. These stories took their start from a turn in the parent s physical condition, from which the dying process could in retrospect be seen to have started, and which often took place several years before the death. In addition, daughters also talked about their grief reactions and how they have adjusted to a life without the deceased parent. The ways in which the last stage of life was told reflect not only the characteristic features of late modernity but also processes of marginalisation and exclusion. Revivalist script and medical script, identified by Clive Seale as the dominant, competing models for dying well in the late modern societies, were not widely utilised in the narratives. They could only be applied in situations in which the parent had died from cancer and at somewhat younger age than the average. Death that took place in deep old age was told in a different way. The lack of positive models for narrating this kind of death was acknowledged in the study. This can be seen as a symptom of the societal devaluing of the deaths of older people and it affects also daughters accounts of their grief. Several daughters told about situations in which their loss, although subjectively experienced, was nonetheless denied by other people.

Sotalapsuus, äitiys ja isoäitiys : Kertomuksia sotalapsuuden varjossa

War children were sent away to shelter without their parents to other Nordic countries, mainly to Sweden. The phenomenon was remarkable. During the Second World War nearly 80,000 children were sent from their homes by trains or boats. These children travelled to foster homes where they were placed with new parents looking after them. After the conclusion of the peace, for some months or sometimes years later, orders were given to send the children back to their families in Finland. Returning back to Finland and to their biological parents and families was not always easy. Deep bonds between the children and their foster families were created and leaving caused grief to those small travellers once again. In some cases, distances were created in the relations between Mothers and their daughters. Many had forgotten their Finnish, and returning to school proved difficult. Some of the war children felt rootlessness, a result of being torn away from their family and culture. The aim of this study is to describe how former war children became mothers by themselves, and later on grandmothers. The study also explores how they describe the meaning of the war and their childhood in their own parenthood and what were their experiences of time in foster homes. Seven former war children and three daughters were interviewed for this study. Interviews were biographical. A narrative approach and thematic reading (by Riessman 2008) has guided the analysis of the texts. According to the results of this study, the importance of having your own home , family and security in childhood relationships is significant. Caring and having responsibility for disadvantaged others was important for former war children. What come from the detailed experiences of the 'war childhood' most of all were the difficulties they found on returning to Finland. Some of them had become very attached to their foster parents. There were varying degrees of language problems among the returnees. Some of the interviewees had completely forgotten their native language. Given that, starting the school at home was difficult. They also remembered continuous travelling.When asked on the outcome of their relationship with their biological mother, most interviewees were happy, with a few experiencing some distance in this relationship. Security and being available to protect their children were important in their own motherhood and grand motherhood. In difficult family situations like divorce, they wanted to give their time and support for helping with grandchildren. Another important aspect in family life is interaction between all its members. Talking things through in families and also in War Child Associations was highly valued. However, talking of war childhood had been silenced in some families. In conclusion, the experiences of former war children should take in consideration when difficult situations between parents and children or children s positions in war zones are resolved. War children also have a lot to give for further educational study.

El Matadero de Esteban Echeverría, o la inauguración de los mataderos

Resumen: En el presente texto retomamos y reconocemos el carácter de ‘texto fundante’ que El Matadero de Esteban Echeverría tiene en nuestra cultura argentina. Analizamos lo enraizado del texto conectándolo hacia atrás, con los orígenes de la gauchesca, y hacia adelante, con su culminación y con sus proyecciones, incluso en diversas disciplinas. Luego podemos centrarnos en el tema de la violencia como recurrente no solo literario, y precisar el sentido en que la tomamos. Sostenemos que la violencia de El Matadero ya estaba presente, de manera velada, en otras obras de Echeverría; no tanto por su tematización, sino porque figurativiza, de manera muy acorde con la ideología románticas, razón y corazón, considerado éste no como exclusiva sede de sentimientos, sino como víscera, y de allí sus equivalentes, como el estómago y el matambre. Esta parte visceral no accede a mayor formulación, porque no entra en el programa de la estética en boga. Desde este punto de vista, releo las quejas debidas al sufrimiento del corazón, y entiendo el llanto y el descontento de otro modo. Hay lamento porque nada, al menos en el terreno literario, brinda salida a ese fondo vivo, no esquemático y que le resulta abyecto, porque encierra un modo y un contenido que no puede reconocer como propios. Asociado con esta cara puesta en sombra, inopinadamente, El matadero vuelve a ser texto fundante, pero de otra parte de la literatura argentina: de lo marginal, que no puede sumarse a proyectos, y que muy pocos dicen.

Genero eta nazio identitateak Katalina Eleizegiren antzezlanetan

383 p. ; P.315-383: "Erauso Kateriñe" antzezlanaren edizioa dago.

Erizainaren rola dolu perinatalean

[EUS]Helburua: Deskribatu erditze gelan erizainak duen rola heriotza perinatalak gurasoengan dakarren lehen uneko doluan, horretarako erizainak burutu beharko dituen jarrera eta ekintzak identifikatuz. Metodologia: Errebisio bibliografiko hau burutzeko Pubmed, Cochrane eta Elsevier data baseetatik jasotako lan ugariren analisia egin da, emaitzak jasotzeko zehazki 18 lan aztertu izan direlarik, beti ere kontuan hartuz aztertzen ari zen lanaren mota eta bakoitzaren kalitate zientifikoa, emaitzen limitazioak ezagutu ahal izateko. Ondorioak: Kontuan hartuz gaur egun gai honen inguruko ikerketa kopurua eskasa dela, planteatu izan den egoeran erizain batek jarraitu beharreko jarrerak eta burutu beharreko zeregite nagusi eta egokienak zehaztu ahal izan dira. Horretaz gain, ikusi da nola osasun profesionalen lana hobetu ahal izateko aukera egokiena arlo honetako formakuntza sustatzea eta egoera honetan erizainaren rola zein den zehaztuko lukeen gida bateratu bat sortzea den.

Mães em UTI neonatal: a experiência da maternidade diante do bebê em situação de risco

Esta pesquisa teve por objetivo compreender as vicissitudes da experiência de tornar-se mãe de um bebê em situação de risco neonatal. Emergiu da experiência da autora no acompanhamento psicológico prestado às mães e familiares de recém-nascidos de alto risco internados em uma Unidade de Terapia Intensiva Neonatal (UTI Neonatal). Foi possível perceber ali que a puérpera que tinha seu filho internado em situação de risco logo após o nascimento vivenciava uma experiência de intenso sofrimento, permeada por conflitos e angústias específicas, tais como: o sentimento de incapacidade pelo parto prematuro e/ou pela malformação fetal, a dor/luto diante da situação de risco e eminência de perda do filho, o medo e a ambivalência na relação afetiva com o bebê. Tais vivências podem representar uma ameaça para a construção do vínculo inicial entre pai/mãe/filho, bem como para a própria saúde psíquica da mulher e do bebê em constituição. Para uma aproximação da experiência subjetiva destas mulheres/mães, optou-se pela pesquisa qualitativa na abordagem psicanalítica. A compreensão do fenômeno foi possibilitada pela análise do discurso das mães que tiveram seus filhos internados na UTI Neonatal, através do método de observação participante dos atendimentos grupais prestados pelo Serviço de Psicologia da instituição, bem como pela análise documental das fichas de acompanhamento psicológico destas mulheres. Participaram do estudo, as mulheres/mães que acompanharam seus filhos internados na UTI Neonatal do Núcleo Perinatal do Hospital Universitário Pedro Ernesto (HUPE), da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) e que receberam atendimento psicológico grupal: Grupo Mães Presentes durante um período de três meses. A compreensão e interpretação dos aspectos essenciais do fenômeno foram fundamentadas nos pressupostos psicanalíticos da teoria do amadurecimento pessoal de Donald W. Winnicott e em outros autores atuais de referência no campo materno-infantil. Acredita-se que este trabalho servirá de reflexão e contribuição para a construção, na assistência neonatal, de um lugar de acolhimento para a experiência subjetiva dessas mulheres/mães e suas repercussões, a partir de uma perspectiva de cuidado humanizado e integral a saúde, tal como preconizado pelas políticas públicas atuais.

Depois da perda: desafios e possibilidades da vivência do luto na hipermodernidade

Este trabalho tem por objetivo compreender, no contexto histórico atual da sociedade ocidental, as diversas representações sobre a morte, o morrer, a perda e o luto nas suas dimensões pessoais e sociais. A análise parte do cenário hipermoderno onde a morte e o sofrimento são interditados. Os recursos tecnológicos, na atualidade, vêm contribuindo para o afastamento da morte, com descobertas que possibilitam o prolongamento da vida e com promessas de realização do desejo utópico do homem de tornar-se imortal. Como conseqüência imediata destes elementos encontrados no imaginário social contemporâneo, morrer torna-se uma transgressão e a morte distancia-se da condição humana. Ao mesmo tempo, o ideário de felicidade plena silencia as expressões de sofrimento, que se tornam indesejadas. Para a análise das conseqüências deste contexto para o homem hipermoderno, este estudo fundamenta-se em relatos, depoimentos registrados no site Depois da perda... e expressões de perda encontradas na arte, na literatura e na música, feitas por aqueles que vivenciam ou tenham vivenciado luto pela morte de um ente querido.

...e eles viveram felizes até seu fim.: narrativas contemporâneas sobre a morte e o morrer na literatura infantil brasileira

A proposta desta tese é analisar a abordagem dos temas da morte, do morrer, da perda e do luto pela literatura infantil brasileira contemporânea. Com base em livros disponibilizados no mercado (lojas físicas e virtuais), portanto acessíveis ao público, busca compreender como a morte é narrada em seus textos e ilustrações, conjunto que, na literatura infantil, assume papel essencial. Nesta trajetória, faz-se igualmente necessária a reflexão sobre a concepção infantilizada da infância, que, na hipermodernidade, culmina na fragilização de sua autonomia e na noção equivocada, dentre outras, de que crianças não são capazes de vivenciar dores intensas e devem ser poupadas do contato com a morte. A abordagem dos livros de literatura infantil sobre a morte torna ainda imprescindível colocar em discussão as possibilidades que a literatura proporciona para a compreensão do homem diante deste evento no contexto histórico e social hipermoderno. Para tanto, o percurso escolhido desconstrói a noção vigente sobre a literatura, na qual é considerada como elemento ilustrativo, reconhecendo-a como importante recurso para as ciências humanas e sociais. Para além desta proposta, cabe ainda considerar a literatura não a partir de uma perspectiva utilitarista (o ler é importante), nem tão pouco como um recurso meramente terapêutico, mas como perspectiva de ressignificação de experiências de vida, de conhecimento do humano, de abertura para o outro e de inserção social e política. Num movimento recíproco, lemos e somos lidos pelos textos e pelas imagens; construímos nossas narrativas ao mesmo tempo em que elas nos constroem. Neste sentido, nosso momento histórico é uma folha em branco que traz em si o potencial de escrevermos as próximas linhas, páginas, capítulos... até o fim

Produção literária: tecer o imaginário, espaço preenchido da margem

O objetivo deste estudo é analisar como a prática da produção literária interfere, positivamente, na trajetória de indivíduos que se encontram em situação de vulnerabilidade social. A investigação deu-se no Centro Cultural Cartola, situado na comunidade da Mangueira na cidade do Rio de Janeiro, espaço que favorece a experiência individual e social de crianças e jovens por meio de ferramentas pedagógico-culturais: dança, orquestra de violinos, música, capoeira, judô, balé, oficinas literárias de leituras e de composições de texto, que possibilitam a criação de valores culturais da comunidade e dos indivíduos pelo processo de identificação. A oficina Produção Literária: Tecer o Imaginário teve início em maio de 2011, com propostas de estímulo à criação e à leitura de textos ficcionais, possibilitando que a narrativa como um vetor de (re)construção do sujeito e do coletivo, sob o ponto de vista ético e estético. A fase investigativa constou de oficinas de literatura apresentadas de duas formas: Leitura e escrita em grupos pequenos - ou individuais. O trabalho de campo da nossa pesquisa qualitativo-participativa requereu que fizéssemos um recorte espacial de nossa experiência, para que à partir dai pudéssemos inserir o recorte teórico que fosse factível ao nosso objeto de investigação. Importava a dinâmica da ação dos atores sociais. A pesquisa, estruturada sobre a ação, revelou-se detentora de inúmeras possibilidades onde o imaginário se apresenta. A interação por meio de falas que estimulam a imaginação e a reflexão exerce influência no grupo e no indivíduo na construção de si e de seu mundo. Como o objetivo da pesquisa não se adequava somente à prática oral, de contar e ouvir estórias, mas de estimular os atores à inventar e escrevê-las percebemos que este modo prevaleceu. Por exigência de que a criança dominasse de alguma forma essa modalidade, sobretudo porque o ato de escrever validava as histórias inventadas por elas e as dispostas por outras pessoas nos livros. Visto que oralidade pode dispersar a entrada da criança em seu mundo imaginário, tendo importância maior para crianças muito pequenas que não entraram ainda no mundo da linguagem. A maneira que conduzíamos a pesquisa era sempre no sentido de estimular o imaginário, capturando-o, e a partir disso inseri-lo no mundo da linguagem, da simbolização. Para Minayo (1992), O método é o próprio processo do desenvolvimento das coisas.... Nesse sentido, surgia, daquela prática, um texto/sujeito, cujas palavras eram um tronco donde se espalhavam uma infinidade de ideias criativas. O resultado da investigação constatou que a criação ficcional, estimula e desenvolve o imaginário e as representações simbólicas empobrecidas. Evidenciando o quanto é gratificante e prazeroso para crianças e jovens suas participações em atividade que fazem do campo educativo e terapêutico um campo de aventura. Observar o efeito reparador da literatura no individuo, e de consolo nos momentos de lutos e de crises de toda ordem foi evidente em situação fronteiriça, pelo uso do mundo interno dessa potente ferramenta psicopedagogica como fortalecimento psicoemocional

Search/ing for missing people: families living with ambiguous absence

Families of missing people are often understood as inhabiting a particular space of ambiguity, captured in the phrase ‘living in limbo’ (Holmes, 2008). To explore this uncertain ground, we interviewed 25 family members to consider how human absence is acted upon and not just felt within this space ‘in between’ grief and loss (Wayland, 2007). In the paper, we represent families as active agents in spatial stories of ‘living in limbo’, and we provide insights into the diverse strategies of search/ing (technical, physical and emotional) in which they engage to locate either their missing member or news of them. Responses to absence are shown to be intimately bound up with unstable spatial knowledges of the missing person and emotional actions that are subject to change over time. We suggest that practices of search are not just locative actions, but act as transformative processes providing insights into how families inhabit emotional dynamism and transition in response to the on-going ‘missing situation’ and ambiguous loss (Boss, 1999, 2013).

Experiences of the foster care process in the Republic of Ireland: retrospective accounts from biological children of foster carers

This thesis examines the experiences of the biological children of foster carers. In particular it explores their experiences in relation to inclusion, consultation and decision-making. The study also examines the support and training needs of birth children in foster families. Using a qualitative methodology in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with fifteen birth children of foster carers aged between 18 and 30 years. The research findings show that for the majority of birth children, fostering was overall a positive experience which helped them develop into individuals who were caring and nonjudgemental. However, from the data collected in this study, it is clear that fostering also brings a range of challenges for birth children in foster families, such as managing feelings of loss, grief, jealousy and guilt when foster children leave. Birth children are reluctant to discuss these issues with their parents and often did not approach fostering social workers as they did not have a meaningful relationship in order to discuss their concerns. The findings also demonstrate that birth children undertake a lot of emotional work in supporting their parents, birth siblings and foster siblings. Despite the important role played by birth children in the fostering process, this contribution often goes unrecognised and unacknowledged by fostering professionals and agencies with birth children not included or consulted about foster care decisions that affect them. It is argued here that birth children are viewed by foster care professionals and agencies from a deficit based perspective. However, this study contends that it is not just foster parents who are involved in the foster care process, but the entire foster family. The findings of this study show that birth children are competent social actors capable of making valuable contributions to foster care decisions that affect their lives and that of their family.

A qualitative analysis of parental coping with an early diagnosis of hearing loss in Ireland

The recent implementation of Universal Neonatal Hearing Screening (UNHS) in all 19 maternity hospitals across Ireland has precipitated early identification of paediatric hearing loss in an Irish context. This qualitative, grounded theory study centres on the issue of parental coping as families receive and respond to (what is typically) an unexpected diagnosis of hearing loss in their newborn baby. Parental wellbeing is of particular concern as the diagnosis occurs in the context of recovery from birth and at a time when the parent-child relationship is being established. As the vast majority of children with a hearing loss are born into hearing families with no prior history of deafness, parents generally have had little exposure to childhood hearing loss and often experience acute emotional vulnerability as they respond to the diagnosis. The researcher conducted in-depth interviews primarily with parents (and to a lesser extent with professionals), as well as a follow-up postal questionnaire for parents. Through a grounded theory analysis of data, the researcher subsequently fashioned a four-stage model depicting the parental journey of receiving and coping with a diagnosis. The four stages (entitled Anticipating, Confirming, Adjusting and Normalising) are differentiated by the chronology of service intervention and defined by the overarching parental experience. Far from representing a homogenous trajectory, this four-stage model is multifaceted and captures a wide diversity of parental experiences ranging from acute distress to resilient hopefulness

Reflections on Children

In the Fall 2004, while preparing my dissertation project “Reflections on children,” I realized that whether art songs, operatic arias or scenes, the classical repertory offers a wide variety of masterpieces regarding all aspects of children’s life. My first dissertation recital is called “Journeys” and was performed on December 6th 2004 at 8:00pm in the Tawes Recital Hall. Change is the only inevitable condition in life and as such, it has been thought-provoking to many poets and composers. The narrator in Mahler’s Wayfarer Songs experiences the pain of love for the first time and emerges transformed into an adult. The narrator in Barber’s Knoxville is an adult looking back at his journey in an attempt to understand himself. The mothers in Britten’s Charm of Lullabies each make every effort to accept the changes in their own life after the birth of her baby. Finally, both Brahms’ songs are about risks and losses. “Destinies” is the title of the second dissertation recital as it attempts to capture the dark fate of Mignon and of Rückert/Mahler’s children. It was performed on April 8th 2005 in the Tawes Recital Hall. Mignon’s grief is portrayed through songs full of sadness and hopelessness in mourning of a long lost childhood. Rückert wrote 425 Kindertotenlieder in memory of his children’s deaths over a period of twenty years and Mahler orchestrated five of them. Mahler’s choices deal with light and darkness, symbolizing eternal life and hope versus despair and death, in both the literal and the literary sense. Finally, the third dissertation recital called “Blessings” was performed on May 19th 2005 in the Tawes Recital Hall. It relies on the evocation of moods and scenes created by a variety of composers and poets. Poulenc’s La Courte Paille are brief works in the style of a child’s song with unrelated and unexpected images juxtaposed, creating a sense of inner monologues. John Greer’s House of Tomorrow, Guastavino’s Cradle Songs and the rest of the composers offer wonderful pieces of immense power and expression in their directness and sensitive contour.