| Summary: | The purpose of this study was to investigate and expand the knowledge of how bereaved spouses in palliative care handled their grief. Attempts were also made to distinguish common patterns among the experiences that the bereaved spouses expressed. Furthermore the study aimed to understand how the bereaved spouses handled their grief, and to understand what helped them to move on. A qualitative method was used in this essay, related to the purpose of investigating the spouses’ emotional experiences. The questions used to reach an understanding of the matter were: How did the bereaved experienced their grief? Were there important contributing factors worsening their grief or making it easier? How did the bereaved persons handle their grief, and what helped them to work things through and carry on with their lives? The result was analyzed by using Antonovsky’s theory; a feeling of coherence, Lazarus’ coping theory combined with Folkman’s revised coping theory. The results were also analyzed by the findings of continuing bonds derived from Ainsworth’s attachment theory. The seven strategic picked out respondents in this study, constituted from a development project, financed by Cancerfonden, which took place in the palliative unit of Stockholms sjukhem in 2007. The results showed that the sense of coherence had an effect on the bereaved spouses’ way to handle their grief. The respondents’ ability of awareness and mental preparation were significant. As it turned out, the time extent of the disease did not have a major effect on the bereaved spouses’ experience of their grief. Furthermore the study showed that the context was very significant, and that the bereaved spouses to a great extent used positive reappraisal.
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