Men's Use of Metaphors to Make Sense of Their Spouse's Miscarriage: Expanding the Communicated Sense-Making Model

Health Commun. 2020 May;35(5):538-547. doi: 10.1080/10410236.2019.1570430. Epub 2019 Feb 1.

Abstract

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.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Abortion, Spontaneous* / psychology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Men* / psychology
  • Metaphor*
  • Models, Psychological
  • Pregnancy