An autobiographical exploration of a married middle-aged woman's experience of losing her terminally ill mother: Focusing on life and death, experiences before the loss for three months

Objectives This study was conducted to explore the experiences and meaning of bereavement of a terminally ill mother in middle-aged married women. Methods To this end, by applying the autobiographical narrative inquiry method, ‘I’, who appears as both a researcher and a narrator, transfers my experiences before my mother’s death from the day she was diagnosed with terminal ureteral cancer, a rare cancer, to the day of her death into a three-dimensional narrative inquiry space, narrating my life, reliving the life I told, and narrating that life again, creating the meaning of a cyclical process. Results In this study, the meaning of the experience of bereavement before the death of a terminally ill mother in the home, nursing home, or hospice hospital of married middle-aged women was revealed to be ‘confusion,’ ‘acceptance and preparation,’ ‘separation,’ and ‘view.’ Conclusions This study has practical legitimacy in that it provides personal legitimacy and implications for the need for psychological intervention before death between terminally ill cancer patients and their families, as it provides an opportunity to reconsider the meaning of remaining life as an extension of a good life. Furthermore, it has social legitimacy in that it raises awareness of death preparation education, hospice palliative care, and withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, and recognizes the need for institutional expansion of the support system.