Holding on to hope: A review of the literature exploring missing persons, hope and ambiguous loss

Title
Holding on to hope: A review of the literature exploring missing persons, hope and ambiguous loss
Publication Date
2016
Author(s)
Wayland, Sarah
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7040-6397
Email: swaylan2@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:swaylan2
Maple, Myfanwy
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9398-4886
Email: mmaple2@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:mmaple2
McKay, Kathryn
Glassock, Geoffrey
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Routledge
Place of publication
United States of America
DOI
10.1080/07481187.2015.1068245
UNE publication id
une:18794
Abstract
When a person goes missing, those left behind mourn an ambiguous loss where grief can be disenfranchised. Different to bereavement following death, hope figures into this experience as a missing person has the potential to return. This review explores hope for families of missing people. Lived experience of ambiguous loss was deconstructed to reveal responses punctuated by hope, which had practical and psychological implications for those learning to live with an unresolved absence. Future lines of enquiry must address the dearth of research exploring the role of hope, unresolved grief, and its clinical implications when a person is missing.
Link
Citation
Death Studies, 40(1), p. 54-60
ISSN
1091-7683
0748-1187
Start page
54
End page
60

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