An exploration of anticipatory grief: the lived experience of people during their spouses' terminal illness and in bereavement

Anticipatory grief has been the subject of much debate since Lindemann first coined the term to describe premature mourning. Much of the research in this area takes a positivist approach focusing on the effect of anticipatory grief on bereavement. In contrast, this study, explores anticipatory grief through a Heideggerian phenomenological approach to elicit the experience of anticipatory grief. Unstructured interviews were conducted with four participants. The resulting data were interpreted using hermeneutics and evaluated using the criteria identified by Madison. The themes arising from this interpretation identify the change the participants experienced. Although these findings are limited to four participants, they are offered to raise awareness of the impact of multiple role loss and the impact of diagnosis on supporting partners. The findings also raise ways in which nurses might support people experiencing loss.