‘I thought they should know … that daddy is not completely gone’: A case study of sense of presence experiences in bereavement and family meaning-making

This study aimed to explore the experiences, responses and conceptualizations of sense of
presence experiences in bereavement in terms of family meaning-making. A case study
framework was chosen, using group and individual interviews and ethnographically-derived
observations in a father-bereaved family in the south of England. Interview data were analyzed
by applying both phenomenological and social constructionist perspectives to the same data
set. It was observed that there was a division between the mother, who had derived much
personal benefit from sense of presence experiences, and the children, who dismissed the
experiences as incompatible with their own worldviews and how they made sense of their
father’s death.