Article Critique: On the Grief of People Who Lose Their Only Child

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Summary of Methods
Summary of Findings
Ethical Aspects
Evaluation of Study
Conclusion
References

Introduction

The purpose of writing this paper is to critique an article on parents who lose their children. It refers to “A Qualitative Study on the Grief of People Who Lose Their only Child: From the Perspective of Familism Culture” by Zhang and Jia (2018). Unfortunately, death is an inevitable outcome of every life, but the time it comes can make a difference. It is a tragedy when children die, but this situation is peculiar in China where the One-Child Policy had been implemented by 2015. Thus, this article comments on grief that the parents can experience after this loss. The researchers have performed excellent work by identifying and analyzing an extensive selection of related literature. Some articles are dedicated to the feelings, while others deal with peculiarities of the Chinese culture. Furthermore, some pieces of writing discuss the situation of a child’s pass within the scope of Chinese society in particular. That is why it is not possible to identify any bias in the selection of studies.

Summary of Methods

It has taken many efforts for the researches to undertake this study. According to Newman (2016), qualitative research is a suitable variant for obtaining reliable results from relatively small sample sizes. The article under critique is an example of phenomenology that is a kind of qualitative research. Furthermore, the researchers used “a non-probability purposive sampling approach” to select participants (Zhang & Jia, 2018, p. 3). The scientists attended gatherings of Beijing shiduers (a Chinese term denoting people who lost their only child) and identified those who would agree to participate in the study. After that, the research team sent corresponding invitations to 12 individuals, and seven of them (two men and five women) gave their consent. Data from these participants were obtained through three-step semi-structured interviews. Firstly, the interviewees became familiar with the study specifics, and they gave their permission to be recorded by signing a corresponding form. Secondly, the researchers “exchanged pleasantries with the interviewee and chatted about topics that were easier to discuss” (Zhang & Jia, 2018, p. 4). Finally, the scientists asked four questions on the impact of a child’s death.

After the data were collected, the researchers started analyzing the information. For this, they “performed a verbatim transcription of the audio recordings” (Zhang & Jia, 2018, p. 4). The written text was then studied, and each of the themes discussed obtained the corresponding coding. In addition to that, all the interviews were separately coded with letters to make them impersonal and free of any bias. Even though the researchers did not mention bracketing, epoché, or reflexivity, they made significant efforts to ensure data credibility. Thus, they discussed their coding system critically with each other and obtained the participants’ approval.

Summary of Findings

The study found out that six themes embodied the grief of the shiduers. Thus, they are “relationship with ancestors, relationship with the deceased child, relationship with the spouse, relationship with relatives, relationship with Tong Ming Ren, and relationship with the country” (Zhang & Jia, 2018, p. 4). One should explain that Tong Ming Ren means other people with the same fate. The first four types above represent familism culture directly, while the other two are examples of extended familism culture. It should be noted that each of these relationships can have a different meaning for the shiduers, from introducing support to brining more stress. However, the researchers conclude that various manifestations of familism culture can have a positive impact on the grief of shiduers.

The conclusions made by the researchers were based on sufficient evidence. The interviews were thoroughly analyzed to support the findings. Every thought or assumption was supported by a corresponding interview piece that was inserted in the article. In addition to that, the authors of the study sustained their findings by citing scholarly articles on the issue. Thus, the evidence is said to have a credible nature, which increases the trustworthiness of the research under critique significantly.

Ethical Aspects

The researchers stated ethical issues in the article directly, and it was a positive phenomenon. The scientists understood that their study could be harmful to the participant’s wellbeing and confidentiality. That is why the authors decided to conduct the three-step interviews. The point was that discussing the theme of a deceased child from the beginning could lead to a situation, in which participants would retire into their shells. In this case, the successful results of the interviews would be endangered. Thus, to start the interviews from the easy conversation was the right choice. Besides, it is necessary to mention that the study “was approved by the Ethics Committee of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Beijing Institute of Technology” (Zhang & Jia, 2018, p. 10). The only ethically questionable practice referred to the fact that the participants were recorded, but the researchers eliminated all possible problems by asking the interviewees to sign a consent form voluntarily.

Evaluation of Study

As has been mentioned, the study is phenomenology, and the given research design suits its objectives perfectly. The fact is that phenomenology studies personal experience and focuses on feelings and emotions people had as a response to a particular event (Padilla-Diaz, 2015). Based on the features above, one can say that it was not necessary to apply a different research design for this question. The main strengths of this study are its research methods: it both is based on literature review and works with actual data. That is why the obtained results are considered credible and trustworthy.

As for limitations, the authors state that the research results relate to inhabitants of cities; different findings can be obtained when considering people from rural areas. Another weakness refers to the fact that the research conclusions are mainly aimed at women. The case is that it is more difficult to find male shiduers who would like to share their experience. Thus, the authors suggest that the given research can be useful for psychological professionals and the government. Besides, the future research on the topic should be specific: attention should be paid to the age of a deceased child and how long ago a child’s passing occurred.

Conclusion

The study under critique analyzes the grief people experience when they lose their only child. The researchers selected a set of literature to investigate this phenomenon in terms of Chinese culture. They managed to identify six spheres that could influence the shiduers, either positively or negatively. The article presents credible and trustworthy results since suitable research design and methods were used. Thus, the only recommendation can relate to the fact that it is necessary to choose those data sampling methods that would provide the researchers with more specific information.

References

Newman, M. (2016). Research methods in psychology. (2^nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education.
Padilla-Diaz, M. (2015). Phenomenology in educational qualitative research: Philosophy as science or philosophical science? International Journal of Educational Excellence, 1(2), 101-110.
Zhang, Y., & Jia, X. (2018). A qualitative study on the grief of people who lose their only child: From the perspective of familism culture. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1-11.

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