Turkish adult's grief and grief rituals aftermath in the of an earthquake

The aim of this study is to examine the grief and grief ritual experiences of individuals who lost one or more of their loved ones due to the earthquake that occurred in Turkey on 6 February 2023. The study adopted a phenomenological research design. The sample consisted of ten (seven women, three men) adults aged from 20 to 51 who experienced the earthquake in Kahramanmaraş province, the epicenter of the earthquake. Data were collected with a semi-structured interview form and analyzed by using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Participants were asked: "How do you define loss?", "What rituals did you perform for your loss?" In this study, the grief experiences and grief rituals of adult individuals who experienced loss were examined. The results revealed that, grief rituals have an important role in accepting and adjusmenting to the loss. Performed rituals facilitated individuals' acceptance of death and were found to be effective as a coping mechanism in the grief process. Individual rituals performed by individuals for their special relationships with the people they lost were found to have a supportive role in continuing the bonds of the bereaved individuals with the deceased. Rituals that are not performed after the loss may cause difficulty in accepting the deceased of a beloved one. The obtained research findings were discussed in light of the literature in the context of the Meaning Making Theory and the Continuing Bonds Theory.