"I know she's there" meanings of continuing bonds for bereaved Costa Rican men: a qualitative study.

This qualitative study addresses a gap in knowledge regarding men's experience of the grieving process. Our limited understanding of the topic hinders the development of targeted support services. The study analyzes the meanings of continuing bonds for bereaved men in Costa Rica. It conducted semi-structured interviews with twelve participants; these were guided by a framework focusing on three key areas: mediators of mourning, continuing bonds, and meaning reconstruction. An analysis revealed five themes: loss emblems, mourners' ecology, memory landscapes, sense-based realities, and symbolic images. These themes suggest that the meanings attributed to continuing bonds facilitated the participants' personal growth, including the adoption of new values and personality changes, ultimately aiding adaptation to loss. These findings contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of men's grieving process, provide information on the development of gender-specific interventions for men and highlight the need for further research.