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DSW Showcase Student Presentation

Barbara Stephens

LCSW, LCSW-S, DSW Doctoral Candidate

Uncharted Waters: Clinical Insights into Father-Daughter Relationships, Adaptation, and Bereaved Daughters’ Identity Maturation Following Premature Maternal Death

Concentration -

  • Wednesday, April 30, 2025 -
  • 1:00 pm
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Abstract

Parental death during childhood is projected to increase in the United States over the next several decades, affecting one in eight children by age 25. A population understudied is widowed fathers and bereaved daughters. To address this, family adaptation following a mother’s death will be explored. Findings from a systematic literature review will be presented that specifically investigates how widowed fathers’ roles and adaptation affect bereaved daughters in terms of the grieving process itself, identity formation, attachment, and psychological adjustment. Bereaved daughters’ identity formation will be further explored within the context of the widowed fathers’ grieving process. A new conceptual theory will be presented arguing that identity formation for bereaved daughters becomes a life-long development task, overshadowing and integrating with other psychosocial developmental tasks as described by psychoanalyst Erik Erikson. This new concept also argues that bereaved daughters’ identity formation is concurrent with strengthening daughters’ relationships with their surviving fathers. Furthermore, resolution of parental conflict as well as continuing emotional and spiritual bonds with deceased mothers strengthens identity formation. Lastly, a clinical tool to assess bereaved daughters will be introduced as an instrument to help counselors working with this population

Biography

Barbara Stephens is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has extensive experience across various sectors. Barbara worked as a medical social worker in a hospital emergency department, a home health agency, and a pediatric oncology and hematology clinic. She also has experience working in a faith community, a residential facility, and in private practice. Barbara’s leadership, dedication, and compassion are well respected by colleagues and by the clients she has served for over 30 years.
Barbara earned a Bachelor of Social Work with a Major in Psychology from Northern Kentucky University, a Master of Social Work from the University of Kentucky, and is a doctoral candidate in the College of Social Work at the University of Kentucky. Additionally, she has certifications from the Cincinnati Psychoanalytic Institute and the American Academy of Grief Counseling.
Barbara is the founder of 12 Oaks Counseling of Hyde Park, a private practice in Cincinnati, Ohio. Here, she provides counseling and psychotherapy for adults who struggle with grief and loss often associated with the death of a loved one, divorce, miscarriages, infertility, and chronic illnesses.
Barbara’s professional and personal experiences with grief and loss have guided her research. One personal loss she experienced in her early twenties was the sudden death of her mother-in-law. This death contributed to a deep curiosity to examine family adaptation following the death of a mother. Consequently, Barbara’s capstone project examines the father-daughter relationship following premature maternal death and how this impacts bereaved daughters’ identity formation across the lifespan.