(In)visible Educational Practices of Women After a Suicide Mourning. Learning and Care within the Family
Abstract
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The study aims to analyze the role of women being in an informal educational practices bereaved by suicide, and its meaning for the reorganization of family life and processes meaning-making the loss.
THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The study addresses the underexplored everyday relational and educational practices in families after suicide loss. It employs a qualitative-interpretative approach using semi-structured interviews with 10 bereaved women from Lower Bavaria (Germany). The data were subjected to reflexive thematic analysis.
THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: Drawing on the concept of care work, emotional labor, stigma, and informal learning, it has been revealed that women’s activities after suicide loss constitute forms of invisible educational work that support family functioning and giving a meaning to the experience of loss.
RESEARCH RESULTS: Women play key roles as organizers of daily family life, interpreters of the suicide, creator, and deliverer of experiential knowledge. These practices support an informal learning and the reconstruction of shared meanings in family.
CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND APPLICABLE VALUE OF RESEARCH: The study highlights the importance of gender determined caregiving and relational practices in mourning after suicide and the need for broader consideration of the role of women in posttraumatic stress and educational, communication and caregiving processes in families after the loss.
References
Aksamit, E., Binnebesel, J., Dejna, D., Janowicz, A., Martinez, D., Paczkowska, A., & Fopka-Kowalczyk, M. (2025). Strategies for supporting the bereaved children and adolescents – the Polish context. Palliative Medicine in Practice, 20, e01326032. https://doi.org/10.5603/pmp.105620
Blaze, P., & Roberts, R.M. (2023). Support after suicide: A thematic analysis of siblings’ experience. OMEGA – Journal of Death and Dying, 92(3), 1105–1123. https://doi.org/10.1177/00302228231195922
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2022). Conceptual and design thinking for thematic analysis. Qualitative Psychology, 9(1), 3–26. https://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000196
Doka, K.J. (2002). Disenfranchised grief: New directions, challenges, and strategies for practice. Research Press.
Dworakowska, J. (2024). Kamienie wrzucone w wodę a fale zmian – wsparcie psychospołeczne w transformacji „kręgów na wodzie” żałoby suicydalnej w świetle przeglądu literatury anglojęzycznej. Homo et Societas, 9, 124–140. https://doi.org/10.4467/25436104HS.24.008.20946
Feigelman, W., & Cerel, J. (2020). Feelings of blameworthiness and their associations with the grieving process in suicide mourning. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, Article 610. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00610
Feigelman, W., Gorman, B.S., & Jordan, J.R. (2009). Stigmatization and suicide bereavement. Death Studies, 33(7), 591–608. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481180902979973
Finch, J., & Groves, D. (Eds.). (1983). A labour of love: Women, work and caring. Routledge.
Finlay, J., & dela Cruz, A. (2023). Reflexivity and relational spaces: Experiences of conducting a narrative inquiry study with emerging adult women living with chronic pain. Global Qualitative Nursing Research, 10.https://doi.org/10.1177/23333936231190619
Flick, U. (2021). Qualitative Sozialforschung: Eine Einführung. Rowohlt.
Goffman, E. (1963). Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity. Prentice-Hall.
Harris, M., & Fallot, R.D. (2006). Envisioning a trauma-informed service system: A vital paradigm shift. New Directions for Mental Health Services, 89(1), 3–22. https://doi.org/10.1002/yd.23320018903
Helfferich, C. (2022). Die Qualität qualitativer Daten: Manual für die Durchführung qualitativer Interviews. Springer.
Hochschild, A.R. (2012). The managed heart: Commercialization of human feeling. University of California Press.
Illeris, K. (2018). Contemporary theories of learning: Learning theorists in their own words. Routledge.
Jordan, J.R., & McIntosh, J.L. (2011) (Eds). Grief after suicide: Understanding the consequences and caring for the survivors. Routledge.
Kvale, S., & Brinkmann, S. (2014). InterViews: Learning the craft of qualitative research interviewing. Sage.
Livingstone, D.W. (2001). Adults’ informal learning: Definitions, findings, gaps, and future research. Centre for the Study of Education and Work, University of Toronto.
Marek, F., & Oexle, N. (2025) Family support after a family member’s suicide: A qualitative exploration. PLoS One, 20(10), e0334964. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0334964
O’Connell, S., Ruane‐McAteer, E., Daly, C., O’Connor, C., Tuomey, F., McDonnell, L., Arensman, E., Andriessen, K., & Griffin, E. (2022). Exploring experiences of supports for suicide bereavementin Ireland: Protocol for a national survey. HRB Open Research, 4, 114. https://doi.org/10.12688/hrbopenres.13437.2
Pitman, A.L., Osborn, D.P.J., Rantell, K., & King, M.B. (2016). The stigma perceived by people bereaved by suicide and other sudden deaths: A cross-sectional UK study of 3432 bereaved adults. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 87, 22–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2016.05.009
Ruczaj, J. (2025). Effects of experiencing a close one’s suicide on children and adolescents: Significance of implementing postvention measures. Seminare, 46(1), 111–125. https://doi.org/10.21852/sem.1842
Stroebe, M., & Schut, H. (2010). The dual process model of coping with bereavement: A decade on. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 61(4), 273–289. https://doi.org/10.2190/OM.61.4.b
Copyright (c) 2026 HORIZONS OF EDUCATION
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish in this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain the copyright to their work while granting the journal the right of first publication. The work will be simultaneously licensed under a CC BY-ND license, which permits others to share the work with proper credit given to the author and the original publication in this journal.
- Authors may enter into additional, non-exclusive agreements for the distribution of the published version of the work (e.g., posting it in an institutional repository or publishing it in another journal), provided that the original publication in this journal is acknowledged.
We allow and encourage authors to share their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on personal websites) both before and during the submission process, as this can foster beneficial exchanges and lead to earlier and increased citations of the published work. (See The Effect of Open Access). We recommend using any of the following academic networking platforms:
