TY - JOUR
T1 - Men’s Use of Metaphors to Make Sense of Their Spouse’s Miscarriage
T2 - Expanding the Communicated Sense-Making Model
AU - Horstman, Haley Kranstuber
AU - Holman, Amanda
AU - McBride, M. Chad
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, © 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2020/4/15
Y1 - 2020/4/15
N2 - With approximately 20 % of pregnancies ending in loss, miscarriage is a relatively common and stressful occurrence. Because romantic partners’ coping efforts are intimately connected, the way one partner copes with the other’s miscarriage has important implications for individual and relational well-being. Grounded in the communicated sense-making (CSM) model, the current study investigated how cis-gender men in heterosexual marriages (n = 45) communicatively constructed the meaning of their wife’s miscarriage through metaphors. Analysis of interview data revealed two supra-themes—metaphors of miscarriage and metaphors of men’s role as a husband. Metaphors of lost gift, cataclysm, death of a loved one, emptiness, and chaotic movement animated husbands’ CSM about their wife’s miscarriage. Men drew upon discourses of masculinity to make sense of their role as a husband in the miscarriage process as a rock, guard, repair man, and secondary character. We explore these findings in light of the master narrative of birth and propose an expansion of the CSM model to include metaphors as a key CSM device.
AB - With approximately 20 % of pregnancies ending in loss, miscarriage is a relatively common and stressful occurrence. Because romantic partners’ coping efforts are intimately connected, the way one partner copes with the other’s miscarriage has important implications for individual and relational well-being. Grounded in the communicated sense-making (CSM) model, the current study investigated how cis-gender men in heterosexual marriages (n = 45) communicatively constructed the meaning of their wife’s miscarriage through metaphors. Analysis of interview data revealed two supra-themes—metaphors of miscarriage and metaphors of men’s role as a husband. Metaphors of lost gift, cataclysm, death of a loved one, emptiness, and chaotic movement animated husbands’ CSM about their wife’s miscarriage. Men drew upon discourses of masculinity to make sense of their role as a husband in the miscarriage process as a rock, guard, repair man, and secondary character. We explore these findings in light of the master narrative of birth and propose an expansion of the CSM model to include metaphors as a key CSM device.
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U2 - 10.1080/10410236.2019.1570430
DO - 10.1080/10410236.2019.1570430
M3 - Article
C2 - 30706735
AN - SCOPUS:85060950133
VL - 35
SP - 538
EP - 547
JO - Health Communication
JF - Health Communication
SN - 1041-0236
IS - 5
ER -