Abstract
OBJECTIVE: to examine internalized and externalized continuing bonds in men grieving a loved one. METHOD: a correlational, descriptive and cross-sectional study. Convenience sample comprised by 170 mourning men. The variables were mediators of mourning, continuing bonds and sociodemographic data. The instrument used was an online questionnaire comprised by mediators of mourning, a continuing bonds scale and sociodemographic data. Descriptive statistics, analysis of variance and Spearman's coefficient were used. The significance level adopted was p<0.05. RESULTS: the participants' mean age was 36.61 years old (SD=13.40), and 80.00% had Higher Education. The mean values corresponding to internalized and externalized continuing bonds were 24.85 (SD=7.93) and 7.68 (SD=2.33), respectively. Significant differences were established referring to internalized and externalized continuing bonds in terms of kinship with the deceased person (p<0.001), and none with the cause of death or with the time elapsed since the event. No significant correlations were defined between internalized/externalized continuing bonds and mediators of mourning. CONCLUSION: grieving men express internalized and externalized continuing bonds frequently and occasionally, respectively, with differences according to who the deceased person was. The Nursing discipline might devise specific strategies that strengthen coping with grief in this population group. (1) It was usual to continue the bond with the deceased loved one. (2) The expression of internalized continuing bonds was frequent after the death. (3) When facing the loss, there was occasional expression of externalized continuing bonds. (4) There were differences in internalized and externalized continuing bonds according to kinship. (5) There were no associations between continuing bonds and mediators of mourning.