Thesis (M.Ed.)--Bowling Green State University, 2007. / Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 80 p. Includes bibliographical references.

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This study aims to discover the meaning that primary school children place on the loss of a parent and the impact it has on the children’s lives. As it is an emotive topic, and because of the difficulties of interviewing children, qualitative techniques of research data collection are considered the most appropriate. The study will explore, discover and describe children’s personal experiences of loss in a phenomenological and contextual manner. The sample in the study will be selected according to non-probability and purposive sampling techniques. Because children are being interviewed, the researcher will ethically approach gatekeepers for permission, and gain their informed consent. Data will be collected using semi-structured interviews, in which the researcher will interact with the interviewees in a natural setting. Data analysis will be done according to Tesch’s eight steps for analysing qualitative research data (Creswell, 1994:155). Once this process has been completed, the data will be verified against the four criteria that Guba (in Krefting, 1991:214-222) developed for testing the trustworthiness of qualitative research findings. The results of the study, as well as conclusions and recommendations drawn from the data, will be disseminated by means of a written report.

Sufficient evidence exists to suggest that the death of a parent during the formative years of a child, which includes the senior primary school years, can have a devastating impact on the child's adjustment. Present available statistics in South Africa also suggest that many more school-going children will loose their parents over the next number of years due to a number of environmental factors, and also especially as a result of terminal illnesses such as HIV/AIDS. It was against this background that the study was undertaken. The problem is formulated as follows: <ul><li> what factors and corresponding experiences influence the adjustment of senior primary school children who have been bereft of a parent? </li><li> what guidelines can be prescribed to effectively assist children who have been bereft of a parent? </li><li> to identify and describe bereaved senior primary school children's perceptions of the death of a parent in terms of related factors and corresponding experiences; and </li><li> to describe guidelines for assisting children who have been bereft of a parent based on the findings of the research. <br></li></ul> Because the research is aimed at an in-depth study of the factors and corresponding experiences of bereaved children, the qualitative research methodology is employed. Data is obtained through conducting phenomenological interviews, as well as through direct observation of the bereaved subjects during the interviews. The data is analyzed according to the descriptive research approach. The present empirical research findings are compared with relevant accessible available literature, and unique contributions emerging from the present research is identified. Themes from the present empirical research as well as from the literature study are identified, and these themes form the basis for describing guidelines for the assistance of bereaved children. The present empirical research findings suggest that the support systems of bereaved children are generally not very effective in terms of facilitating the bereavement process of these children. This conclusion was reached as a result of the bereaved children's descriptions of the factors and corresponding experiences related to the death of their parent, during the interviews only, and not through any contact with the support systems, which was beyond the scope of this study. The problem is that although the relevant support systems are available, they don't appear to be very effective in their assistance of bereaved children. Certain components of the relevant support systems also don't appear to be adequately equipped/qualified for their supportive task in these circumstances. The literature suggests that some support systems appear to be uncertain regarding the supportive role that they can play or are expected to play. There also appears to be somewhat inadequate communication and cooperation between the various support systems. Against this background, the suggestion is that a collective, well-organized, well-coordinated approach should be established, in which all the support system components are well qualified and well equipped, and in which they all cooperate in assisting bereft children so that their adjustment does not restrict their normal development. / Thesis (PhD (Educational Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

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Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-05-22T12:03:44Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Gabriella Costa Pessoa.pdf: 800244 bytes, checksum: ccb3ae65a3df79a26456e841935f1d42 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-22T12:03:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Gabriella Costa Pessoa.pdf: 800244 bytes, checksum: ccb3ae65a3df79a26456e841935f1d42 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-05-12 / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / Among all happenings capable of altering one’s family dynamics, the death is one to require adaptive answers, especially in regard of the ensuing grief. Bereavement occurs whenever there was a bond with the deceased person. Its process entails a variety of subjective aspects, unique to each loss. For children, the understanding of death differs from the adult experience, according to the child’s developmental stage. A loss occurred during childhood will likely be revisited and resignified throughout a lifetime, regarded that the bond between siblings bears potential for intense and diverse life experiences. When one loses a sibling, also loses the possibility of a future shared with someone from the same generation, who partakes the same family origins. In addition, a child who loses a sibling has grieving parents that may not be able to provide the needed atmosphere for a healthy development. The exploratory research focuses on long-term sibling bereavement, aiming to understand better how the loss of a sibling during childhood reflects into adulthood. We used the qualitative method with discourse analysis applied to a single meeting interview with two young adults of 18-35 years old who lost a 0-12-years-old brother or sister during childhood. The grief process was understood from the categories: understanding of death in childhood; participation in related events; grief reactions; find refuge; parental grief; communication; support; disenfranchised grief; having another child; Recurrence; fantasy; curiosity; ambiguity; presumed world; religion; personal growth; continuing bond; therapy. The results indicate that the loss of a brother or sister during childhood can produce changes in different aspects of the emotional development of the life of the bereaved and that talking about it is beneficial / Entre os acontecimentos que podem alterar a dinâmica de uma família, a morte é um evento que requer respostas adaptativas. O luto ocorre quando há vínculo com a pessoa perdida. Seu processo engloba uma diversidade de aspectos subjetivos próprios a cada perda. A compreensão da morte por crianças difere da compreensão de um adulto, conforme seu nível de desenvolvimento. Uma perda ocorrida na infância será revisitada e ressignificada ao longo da vida, uma vez que a relação fraterna traz consigo potencial para vivências intensas e variadas. Ao perder um irmão, perde-se a possibilidade de um futuro junto a alguém da mesma geração, com quem se compartilham as origens familiares. Uma criança que perde um irmão possui pais também enlutados, que podem não conseguir proporcionar o ambiente necessário para seu desenvolvimento saudável. O estudo exploratório teve como foco o luto de irmãos a longo termo, buscando compreender a percepção do adulto jovem sobre a perda do seu irmão. Utilizou-se o método qualitativo com análise de discurso aplicada à entrevista em um único encontro realizada com dois adultos jovens de 18-35 anos participantes da pesquisa que perderam irmão(ã) entre 0-12 anos na infância. O processo de luto foi compreendido a partir das categorias: compreensão da morte na infância; participação nos eventos relacionados; reações ao luto; encontrar refúgio; luto dos pais; comunicação; suporte; luto não reconhecido; ter outro filho; recorrência; fantasia; curiosidade; ambiguidade; mundo presumido; religião; crescimento pessoal; vínculo contínuo; terapia. Os resultados apontam que a perda de um irmão na infância pode produzir transformações em diferentes aspectos do desenvolvimento emocional da vida do enlutado e que versar sobre o luto é benéfico

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisors: Larry Browning and Rajiv Rimal. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

This study compared three groups of day care directors with regard to their levels of death anxiety and their responses to situations involving death that affect children in the day care center. In addition, the study compared the variables of age, years of experience in day care, parental status, and self-reported degree of religiosity with the directors' levels of death anxiety and their responses to simulated death situations. A possible relationship between the levels of death anxiety of the directors and their responses to simulated death situations was also investigated.