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Abstract：
It is a worldwide trend that more households are having pets or companion animals. Hence, there has been an increasing number of animal lovers experience companion animal loss bereavement. This form of bereavement has not been explored in Chinese societies. We conducted a qualitative study using in-depth interviews with 31 animal lovers and recruited through convenience and snowball sampling in Hong Kong. Companion animal loss bereavement appears to share similar features to other forms of bereavement but also has its unique features. The intensity of grief seemed to be affected by factors like the strength of the human-animal bond, lack of empathy from closed ones, being married without children, and euthanasia decision. Although the bereavement was distressful for many of our participants, many of them gradually achieved personal growth from their loss experience. We have identified seven common themes from the interview data and through self-reliance, social-supported, or professional-supported coping behaviors, people bereaved by animal loss can achieve growth from their experience. This study shows that postbereavement growth is possible from pet loss bereavement when appropriate coping strategies are adopted by the bereaved but some professional help may be needed.
摘要：
越来越多的家庭拥有宠物或伴侣动物是全球趋势。因此，有越来越多的动物爱好者经历伴侣动物丧亲之痛。这种形式的丧亲在中国社会还没有被探索过。我们对31位动物爱好者进行了深入访谈，并通过便利和滚雪球采样在香港进行了定性研究。伴侣动物的丧亲之痛似乎与其他形式的丧亲之痛具有相似的特征，但也具有其独特的特征。悲伤的强度似乎受到诸如人与动物之间纽带的强度之类的因素的影响，缺乏对封闭者的同情，结婚没有孩子，和安乐死的决定。尽管丧亲对我们的许多参与者来说都很痛苦，他们中的许多人从失去的经历中逐渐实现了个人成长。我们从采访数据中,通过自力更生,确定了七个共同的主题,社会支持,或者专业支持的应对行为，失去动物的人可以从他们的经历中获得成长。这项研究表明，当丧亲者采取适当的应对策略时，丧亲者可能会从失去宠物的丧亲之故中成长，但可能需要一些专业帮助。
