Osobitosti sjećanja oca i majke na traumatski događaj nestanka i posmrtne identifikacije sina deset godina poslije nestanka : kvalitativna analiza

摘要

Aim To assess memory characteristics of parents in regards to the trauma caused by theuddisappearance and postmortem identification of their sons, ten years after the sons wereudreported missing.udStudy design Qualitative analysis of the content of memory.udSample size Testimonies were taken from 13 mothers and 7 fathers, out of which 6 mothersudand 3 fathers have identified their sons postmortem. Mothers' median age was 65 (53-77), andudfathers' 67 (60-75).udPlace of study The interviews were held in 4 villages situated NE and SW from Osijek:udLaslovo, Ernestinovo, Bilje i Darda; out of which, in the beginning of 1991, 21 persons haveudbeen reported missing. Sons' median age, at the time of their disappearance was 31 (18-41). Inudthe ten years after the disappearance, 6 out of 21 were identified postmortem, while theudremaining 15 are still listed as missing.udMethods Interviews were recorded and translated verbatim adding the interviewers commentsudand descriptions of the observed behavior. Interviewees were asked to recall their mostudtraumatic event, which was then analyzed according to the protocol for the traumatic memory.udThe interviews were ended when the topic was thoroughly exhausted, or when theudinterviewees' thoughts started to repeat. Theoretical starting point was Bowlby's theory ofudmourning. Analyzing the contents of the memories, descriptions that were similar or the sameudwere grouped into topics. These topics represent units of memory's content, and initially 173uddifferent ones were coded. Evaluation Forms for the testimonies consisted of those 173 topics,udfollowed by an evaluation scale. The pilot testing consisted of 62 topics, with a confidenceudinterval of 0,05 and sampling error of 0,03. For two evaluators Krippendorff's alphaudcoefficient was insufficient and they were excluded from the study, while the remaining 3udevaluators continued their analysis on all 173 topics. The process of stratification of the codedudtopics consisted of 3 phases: For Phase 1 Krippendorff's alpha coefficient was set to 0,30udwhich yielded 80 out of 173 topics. In Phase 2 Krippendorff's alpha coefficient was set toud0,40 yielding 53 topics. Finally in Phase 3 Krippendorff's alpha coefficient was set to 0,50udyielding 30 topics. These 30 topics were present in the testimonies of 11 mothers and 6udfathers with Krippendorff's alpha coefficient 0,60 – 0,82.udFinal results' measures From the parental memories of the trauma caused by theuddisappearance of their sons it was possible to construct 10 sensorial and emotional episodes:ud1. Fear that something so foreign and alien, as DNA-analysis is, could determine the faith ofudthe missing son; 2. The missing person is a – 'scapegoat'; 3. Picking of a 'memorial candle' forud128udthe missing; 4. Belief in the supernatural – 'perhaps a miracle will still happen'; 5. Tirednessudbrought on by the search for the missing - 'burying the dead so that the living could live'; 6.udThe content of dreams directs daily behavior – 'dream as an active reality check'; 7. Preservedudobjects belonging to the missing son (clothes, etc.) are proof that the he is alive; 8. Confessionud– 'the sacrament of repent and acceptance'; 9. Hope – 'subconscious expression of belief inudones surroundings'; 10. Flash-back episodes – 'sensory delusions and body manifestations,uddecompensation'.udFinal results A post-traumatic dissociative reaction is highest during the recollection of anudanticipated or actual postmortem identification of the missing son by DNA-analysis in casesudwhen visual identification is not possible (fragmented body parts: pieces of bone, dental parts,udetc.) The ways fathers describe events relating to the missing son are statistically veryuddifferent from the way mothers do so. Mothers' narrative testimony depicts them trying toudconclude the story of their son's disappearance based upon very scarce information theyudposses. Another trait of the mothers' narratives about their missing sons that have beenudidentified postmortem, is the lack of mentioning the way the sons died. The fathers, on theudother hand, depict the traumatic event by switching the observer and the acting roles forudthemselves, with a stereotypical narration in which societies attitudes towards the war, towardudthe victim and toward other individuals is expressed. Two attitudes dominate the fathers'udtestimonies: 'the missing son is dead' and 'the wish to find and bury the missing son'.udConclusions Testimonies regarding the missing sons can be viewed as consisting of 10udseperate stories, each accompanied by its emotional and sensorial image. Emotional reactionudbrought on by the disappearance and the postmortem identification of their sons by DNAanalysisudseems to be captured within a symbolic context (verbal system) and linked to theseudspecific images and emotional episodes. This enables the mourning parents to tell their storyudin an episodic form. Flashbulb memories, therefore, become the center points of auddisappearance narrative, and are then easily linked to other episodes wither thematicallyudsimilar or emotionally similar. This ontological narrative about the missing son who wasudidentified postmortem, enables not only a social approach, what has so far been the traditionaludapproach, but also an individual approach to a narration as a limited way of self presentation.