The role of spirituality in grieving children

This research was designed to discover the role spirituality plays in a child's grief process, especially the way spirituality provides comfort to children as they cope with grief and loss. The procedural problem was to examine containment, connection and meaning making as possible variables of spirituality and determine ways they affect the grief process.; Using a qualitative research design with a phenomenological approach, interviews and other types of data were collected of six children ages four to nine who had suffered the loss of a family member in the last year to year and a half. The data were analyzed to discover the nature of spirituality in children's grief.; The findings from this study provide a valuable base for developing a new therapeutic approach when working with children experiencing grief and loss. The research also provides practical suggestions for approaches any adult could utilize when interacting with a grieving child. Grief is a typical reaction to a loss, which is universally experienced and encountered repeatedly. It is a process that allows a person to let go of what was and prepare for what is to be. If a child has a spiritual approach to grief then s/he would be more likely to grieve without complications. Future grief experiences might then be facilitated if the child already had the spiritual constructs in place.; The implications for counseling offer therapists, teachers and parents new avenues to explore with a grieving child. The findings offer spiritual approaches, which are intrinsic to children and which facilitate the grief process. These approaches include drawings or other art activities, metaphorical play, finding a linking object, or making meaning of the grief event. Ultimately the spiritual approach of containing the grief, forging a connection with another person or a higher power, finding a linking object, or making meaning from the grief event, might provide people working with children a practical method that children generally already use intuitively. By making the silent processes concrete, both adults and children use these spiritual strategies to cope with the current grief process, and future grief, as well.