This insider research journey explores the meaning-making processes of female spousal caregivers in anticipatory mourning and the knowledges which they have gained in retrospect. The research traces the social constructions of meaning and how they influence the process of meaning-making. A phenomenological study was undertaken in which unstructured interviews were conducted with five bereaved participants, highlighting the unique way in which each woman made meaning of loss in anticipatory mourning. The main phenomenological themes to emerge from their meaning-making were: a) the significance of time; b) challenges and gifts; c) witnessing the decline; d) paradoxes; e) the significance of the spousal relationship; and f) spirituality. The therapeutic effect of telling the life story is explored in this study and the need for contextual pastoral care that is specific to the state of anticipatory mourning is highlighted. Finally, possibilities for co-constructive pastoral care are raised in the light of the research findings. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th. ( Practical Theology, with Specialisation in Pastoral Therapy)

This thesis constitutes a narrative that explores an alternative meaning construction for the experience of loss. During the telling of this story, I consider the appropriateness of adopting the 'new paradigm' approach for this particular thesis, and the constructivist and social constructionist epistemological assumptions underlying such an approach. I delve into the use of 'self as researcher under this epistemological umbrella. This is followed by an exploration of 'chaos theory' and its application to social systems. And finally, I consider the usefulness of this theory in constructing meanings for loss experiences on various systemic levels within my own family system. / Psychology / M.A.(Clinical Psychology)

Text in Afrikaans / Summaries in English and Afrikaans / Die dood van 'n ouer he! 'n effek op die totale lewe van die kind en dompel die kind in emosionele nood wat terapeutiese begeleiding noodsaak. Na afloop van die afsterwe van 'n ouer, vind daar fisieke, emosionele, sosiale en kognitiewe veranderinge in die kind se lewe plaas waarop hy nie voorbereid is nie, en wat hy ook nie verstaan nie. Hierdie veranderinge veroorsaak dat die kind se leefwereld in so mate verander dat sy funksionering benadeel word. Daar is met hierdie studie gepoog om vas te stel watter effek die dood van 'n ouer op die kind he! en tot watter mate terapeutiese begeleiding die kind se emosionele nood kan verlig. Daar is in die studie gevind dat rou inderdaad 'n gekompliseerde proses is wat lei tot die ontstaan van talle onbeantwoorde vrae, gevoelens van magteloosheid en emosionele pyn. Kinders wat in rousmart verkeer word dikwels deur die samelewing misgekyk en kry as gevolg hiervan nie voldoende hulp nie. Di! lei tot die ontstaan van persoonlikheidsontwikkelingsprobleme, relasionele probleme en intra-psigiese probleme soos 'n swak selfbeeld, ego-verdedigingsmeganismes, persoonlike kwesbaarheid, ongunstige betekenisgewing en ongunstige belewenisse. Hierdie probleme veroorsaak dat die kind in sy selfaktualisering gerem word en as gevolg hiervan nie sy gegewe moontlikhede verwerklik nie. Die studie het verder bewys dat die kind wat 'n ouer aan die dood afgestaan het, wel deur middel van terapeutiese begeleiding deur 'n sielkundige gehelp kan word om die verlies van 'n ouer in so 'n mate te hanteer dat die faktore wat die kind se selfaktualisering rem, opgehef kan word. Die studie voorsien die sielkundige van riglyne ten opsigte van die proses van terapeutiese begeleiding aan die kind wat 'n ouer aan die dood afgestaan het. Riglyne word gebied ten opsigte van die hantering van die kind se onmiddellike situasie, die evaluasie van die kind-inrousmart, die vasstelling van doelstellings en doelwitte vir terapeutiese begeleiding, die selektering van terapeutiese tegnieke, die terapeutiese hulpverlening aan die kind, die hulpverlening aan die oorblywende ouer en die hulpverlening aan die onderwyser wat gemoeid is met die kind-in-rousmart. Riglyne word ook gebied ten opsigte van die terminering van terapie. / The death if a parent has an influence on the total life of a child and causes emotional trauma that necessitates therapeutic guidance. After the death of a parent, physical, emotional, social and cognitive changes occur in the child's life for which he is not prepared and that he also does not understand. These factors cause such a change in the child's life-world that his functioning is hampered. In this study it was endeavoured to determine what effect the death of a parent has on a child's life and to what extent therapeutic guidance can alleviate the child's emotional trauma. In this study it was found that mourning is indeed a complicated process that gives rise to countless unanswered questions, feelings of helplessness and emotional pain. Children suffering grief in mourning are often ignored by society and as result of this, they do not receive adequate assistance. This leads to problems concerned with the development of the personality, relational problems and intrapsychological problems such as a poor self-concept, ego defence mechanisms, personal vulnerability, negative ways of acquiring meaning and unfavourable ways of experiencing life. These problems give rise to the hampering of the child's selfactualisation and because of this he cannot realise his potential. The study has furthermore proved that the child who has lost a parent through death, can be helped by a psychologist. This can be done by means of therapeutic guidance so that the child can handle the loss of a parent to such an extent that the factors that hamper his self-actualisation can be removed. The study provides guidelines for therapeutic guidance to the child who has Jost a parent through death. Guidelines are given on handling the child's immediate situation, the evaluation of the child in mourning, the determination of aims and objectives for therapeutic guidance, the selection of therapeutic techniques, therapeutic assistance to the child, assistance to the remaining parent and assistance to the educator who is involved with the child in mourning. Guidelines are also given for the termination of therapy. / Educational Studies / D.Ed (Clinical Psychologist)

This work is dealing with children and adolescents, who are going through a loss of their parent. It describes how the multidisciplinary team of home hospice care works approach this focus group. My work explains how death is perceived by children and adolescents, understanding of which is instrumental in handling communication with individuals suffering from the trauma of loss. We need to understand family as a unit where everyone influence each other. Therefore I point out the importance of open communication in the family which is the basis for strong life-long relationships and also helps coping with loss better. This work is enriched by interviews with home hospice care social workers and their hands-on experience working with children going through the loss of their parent.

Among the AmaXhosa the death of a person is marked by a tradition called ukuzila - the equivalent of the mourning process. As a sign of spousal mourning, and to show respect, the remaining spouse has to put on a marker (be visible). However, it is mostly the woman who is under obligation to show her mourner status by wearing ‘clothes of mourning’. The discriminatory nature of the practice, especially pertaining to visibility and some of the detrimental effects on the widows’ health and safety have been documented by some researchers, but the reasons for the continuity of visibility remain largely unexplored. Taking into account the dynamic nature of ‘culture’, this research explored the discourses deployed in men and women’s constructions of ukuzila specifically focusing on spousal mourning and the continuity of widows’ visibility in spite of their resistance to it. The research used postcolonial feminism drawing on postructuralism as its theoretical lens. This theoretical lens provided useful concepts such as hybridity, visibility, surveillance and power with which to examine spousal mourning and conceptualised people’s subject positions as multiple, fluid and contingent. Furthermore, the research employed thematic and discourse analysis at its methodology. Discourse analysis was employed to identify and analyse the discourses utilised in the constructions of spousal mourning. The research was conducted through focus group discussions held with younger and older urban and rural men and women, as well as interviews held with widows and widowers and key cultural informants. Concerning the question of constructions of spousal mourning for men and women, visibility of the mourner emerged as a central and contentious issue. Some participants were of the view that one could show mourning by engaging in culturally appropriate mourning behaviour, whilst others were of the view that showing one’s mourning had to be visible by publicly displaying mourning through a marker. Another group proposed mourning “by heart”, whereby the mourners’ status could either be inferred from their behaviour, whereas others maintained that behaviour was not mandatory. Various justifications for the continued visibility of widows were advanced. These justifications included showing love and respect to the deceased husband; showing respect to the ancestors; and helping to monitor their own behaviour in order to ensure that it is in line with appropriate mourning behaviour. The continued visibility of widows was also used to regulate the widows’ sexuality. Widows were coerced to put on ‘clothes of mourning’ in order to ‘protect’ them from being approached by men for a relationship during the mourning period. The regulation of the movement of widows was also managed through visibility. Widows’ movements were restricted in order to protect the community from pollution or bad luck. For example, they were not allowed to visit places of entertainment or visit other households. Key discourses identified were the familial-‘ukwenda’, respect-‘hlonipha’, and male sexual drive (MSD) discourse. The familial - ‘ukwenda’ discourse is centred on the idea that one is ‘married to the household’, which includes the nuclear family and wider extended family including ancestors. According to the respect-‘hlonipha’ discourse, respect is due to others on the basis of their age, status, and more especially their gender. Showing respect (hlonipha) necessitates the avoidance of all forms of behaviour and utterances that could be deemed disrespectful. The MSD holds a widespread view of sexuality as a biological drive that resides within each male and it was drawn on to make sense of discontinued visibility among widowers, whilst visibility of widows continued. It is argued that it is these discourses, embedded in the ‘culture’ of the AmaXhosa and upheld by the family that sustain the discriminatory nature of the practice, especially concerning the continued visibility of widows in spite of the resistance that has been voiced.

The work deals with the issue of a loss of a close person. The theoretical part describes several attitudes towards death, different views of death, the loss of a close person and the process of coping. The work also mentions several ways of how to help and pedagogic approach towards children that encountered death. The practical part consists of a quality survey in the form of controlled conversations. The conversations were conducted with people that experienced death of a close person in their childhood. This section also contains a suggestion for an appropriate approach to help these children to overcome the loss. Aducational approach trying to make the issue of death more accesible for children not yet affected with the loss is included. The suggested solutions are for children of the early, middle school age and for adolescents are dealt with separately.

Cette thèse analyse la surmortalité par suicide sur le territoire du Pays COB au travers des facteurs psychosociaux et psychopathologiques et repose sur l'hypothèse d'interactions entre les conceptions sociales du suicide et les trajectoires personnelles des individus, freinant sa prévention. Une étude des représentations sociales du suicide montre qu’il existe des RS spécifiques en Bretagne et en Pays COB. L’étude des trajectoires de vie met en évidence une sur-représentation de la dépression et les troubles de la personnalité. On trouve aussi une faible estime de soi, une difficulté d'accès à la parole et à la demande d’aide, des violences transgénérationnelles et actuelles, un climat incestuel et une stigmatisation (auto et hétéro) liée aux RS du suicide, de la dépression et des « psy ». L’étude de l’effet d’un suicide montre qu’il a un impact sur les proches : traumatisme psychique individuel et familial, deuils traumatogènes. À la suite de ces résultats, des actions spécifiques pourront être menées sur ce territoire pour améliorer la prévention du suicide et des tentatives de suicide. / The present thesis analyzes the role of psychosocial and psychopathological factors in the abnormally high rate of deaths by suicide in the “Pays COB” territory. It is based on the hypothesis according to which the interactions between the social conceptions of suicide and the personal trajectories hinders suicide prevention. We studied the structure of social representations of suicide (SR) with Vergès’method (double analysis of the evocation rank) and uncover specific SR in Brittany and in “Pays COB”. A study of the life trajectories highlighted the excessive rate of depressions and personality disorders. We also found amoung suicide victims a weak self-esteem, a difficulty to talk and to ask for help, transgenerational and current violent tendencies, an incestual climate and (self-) stigmatization related to the SR of suicide, depression and psychiatric services. A study about the effect of a suicide showed that it has an impact on the close relatives: individual and family psychic trauma, traumatic grief. Following these results, specific actions can be carried out in this territory to improve the prevention of suicide and of suicide attempts.

Children living in the Mamelodi Township of Tshwane and affected by HIV and AIDS have their own unique challenges they face everyday. These challenges include the poverty context of the township and the stigmatising effect of the community towards these children, compounded by very difficult extended family circumstances and also the struggle with their own identity crisis in the specific developmental phases in which these children find themselves. The focus of this study was to listen to the stories of children affected by HIV and AIDS in the midst of the bereavement process. The emotional responses of children affected by HIV and AIDS within child-headed households experiencing difficulties were identified and explored. A narrative research design was used to capture a chapter in the life stories of three (3) children affected by HIV and AIDS as well as a caregiver who died of AIDS before I completed this study. Data was collected by means of individual interviews, group sessions, and letters which the children wrote to God and the field notes in the form of journal entries written by the researcher, as well as individual feedback and collaboration sessions with the specific caregivers. Data was analysed by means of several phases of theme analysis after which - through a final analysis - psycho-social, emotional and economic response themes were identified. This study found that children affected by HIV/AIDS experience complex emotions in response to their plight. The strongest emotional response themes that emerged, which were reported by all the children were frustration, happiness and love. The more negative emotional responses were mentioned in relation to the feeling that they were being stigmatised in school as well as in their community. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

This study was conducted on the mourning rituals of the AmaXhosa widows of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The study focused on the descriptive presentation of the experiences of the AmaXhosa widows in the Buffalo City municipality of the Province. The study sought to establish the widows’ perceptions regarding the mourning rituals and to interpret their experiences within the context of contemporary cultural, religious, gender and socio-political influences. The experiences among the widows interviewed were found to have a similar context but their perceptions about the mourning rituals were different between the widows younger than 40 years and those older than 50 years. Widows from urban and rural areas of East London, Mdantsane Township and from within a 60 kilometre radius of East London were interviewed. Purposive random sampling was used to identify an equal number of either urban or rural voluntary participants for the study. Structured interviews were held with widows ranging in age from 29 to 91 years. An interpretative phenomenological analysis of the recorded discussions was conducted. The experiences of the AmaXhosa widows during the conduct of the mourning rituals are described. The key findings of the study indicated that most of the widows felt they had to go through the mourning rituals mainly to show respect for their departed husbands and so that the dignity of the family and clan was maintained. The mourning rituals seemed mostly to have negative implications for the widows such as a lack of family and financial support and being treated as social outcasts; however the rituals also seemed to help the women adjust to their new status as widows. Although the mourning rituals were embedded in the socio-cultural tradition generally followed by the AmaXhosa, religious beliefs also influenced some of the traditions by introducing changes in the way some widows conducted the mourning rituals. For example, some religions advocated for shorter periods of mourning than usual as well as wearing different types of mourning clothes from the usual black or purple dress. Overall the perceptions of the older widows aged above 50 years revealed that they had no reservations about performing the mourning rituals and quite readily and unquestioningly accepted the customs. The younger widows aged below 40 years on the other hand felt that the mourning rituals were biased against women and did not serve a useful purpose and even proposed changes to the manner in which the mourning rituals are conducted particularly the shortening of the mourning period from 12 to 6 months or less. However, they seemed to recognize the role played by the mourning ritual in lessening and possibly healing the pain and sorrow caused by their bereavement.

This study examined the experiences of Hospice Bereavement Coordinators (HBCs) and Hospice Chaplains working with grief narratives from patient-family units exhibiting signs of anticipatory or complicated grief. While a significant amount of research has been conducted on Hospice employees, no qualitative studies have examined the interpretation of meaning from employees whose primary role focused on the psychosocial-spiritual aspects of clients exhibiting anticipatory or complicated grief. The researcher identified shared meaning of death, trauma, and loss from six participants in the context of a high stress and high loss environment. This study‘s findings revealed ten central themes: Death is an earthly transition to immortality; Death is an intense progression; Trauma is an interpretive response to a bad experience; Trauma highlights quality of life; Loss is an adaptation to change; Loss highlights self-awareness about mortality; Cases impact views of death, trauma, and loss; Influences of spirituality; Stressful aspects of working in hospice settings; and Methods of coping. Through this study, the researcher captured five elements of the shared phenomena: the conflicting nature of anticipatory or complicated grief with the participant‘s interpretation of death; the acknowledgement of loss as the next stage for survivors of the deceased; the instability patient-family units exhibiting anticipatory or complicated grief faced; the role of faith; and the proactive efforts of participants to create a balance between work and their personal life. These meanings contributed to the continued need for future qualitative studies whereby the lived experiences of Hospice employees could be expressed to assist with the development of structured training programs specific to the requirements outlined by the nature of their work.