ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes our research on the experience of the death of a child, underscoring its impact across multiple studies. It reviews our findings concerning the quest for significance in parental bereavement, situating this work in the context of our broader program on meaning making as a central dimension of grieving. The chapter sketches some promising practices in grief therapy that are coherent with this perspective, and anchor these briefly in some selective case studies. One dimension of mourners' response to a death has drawn our particular attention, namely, their efforts to make meaning of the loss in terms of their spiritual belief system. The chapter seeks to orient readers to the relevance of meaning-based concepts and methods in understanding and addressing the unique struggles of parents facing life's most tragic loss. The processes of meaning reconstruction not only involve finding meaning in the loss, but also finding meaning in one's life and existence.
