Understanding children and adolescents grieving: A study of the perspectives of adults on children's bereavement process in Namibia
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Date
2003
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Namibia
Abstract
This research study aimed to bring about greater insight into the topic of
bereavement, especially with regards to children and adolescents. Questions
that were answered included: How and why do people grieve? How can one
help a person to cope with his/her grief? How do children grieve, and is it
different from adults' grief? What do adults understand by children’s reactions
to loss? The sample population was pre-defined according to the following
characteristics. Primary and secondary caregivers of children (between the
ages of eight (8) and eighteen (18), who have lost either one of their parents
during the past three (3) years) were contacted to participate voluntarily in the
study and to supply information with regards to children’s grief processes.
Data generation took place through the collection of data from semi-structured
individual interviews with ten (10) participants. Four primary caregivers and
six secondary caregivers participated in the study. A total of fourteen children
were discussed in the interviews by the different participants. The interview data was transcribed verbatim and the text was reduced to include only those text parts where the participant spoke about the grieving child, the deceased or the participant’s own beliefs and reactions to death. The text was analyzed by using the Summarizing Content Analysis technique of Philip Mayring’s Qualitative Content Analysis. It was then interpreted within the theoretical frameworks of the attachment theory of John Bowlby and William Worden, and the attribution theory of Bernard Weiner. Due to the small sample size of the study, it was difficult to draw any
significant conclusions from the data. However, tentative interpretations of the
data pointed to a difference between primary and secondary caregivers’
understanding of childhood grief, as well as a dissimilarity between the
recorded understanding of childhood grief and the predictions from academic
literature. This emphasized a need for psycho-education in the field of childhood
bereavement for adults who are dealing with children who may have lost
significant people in their lives. It became all the more necessary in the light of
findings about the number of orphans in Namibia and developing countries
generally, and it was suggested that future studies might consider entering
this vast, unexplored field.
Description
A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts (Clinical/ Counselling Psychology)
Keywords
Adolescents grieving, Childrens bereavement, Namibia