A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology at the University of Zululand, 2007. / This study investigated resilience factors in thirty bereaved Zulu families who lost a family member between one and four years prior to the study. The researcher used self-report questionnaires to access an array of information that could not be accessed through direct observations. In each family, one adolescent (n=30) and one parent (n=30) were interviewed. A standardized questionnaire gathered information regarding family composition, employment, level of education, income, age and gender of the respondent's nuclear family members. This questionnaire included an open-ended question which requested the respondents' opinion on which factors or strengths they believed helped their family through the stressful period. In addition to the use of the questionnaire, a focus group contextualized the following concepts; family, crisis and resilience. The key coping strategies used by individuals, spouses, parents and siblings were seeking help from the relatives and community members; resistant personality traits or inner strengths; spiritual support from the church and for others, ancestral belief. However, there is still a need for more research on resilience in bereaved Zulu families; promotion of peer and professional support as well as for a refinement or adaptation of the measuring instruments that were herein used. / The National Research Foundation; and Stellenboch University

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Counselling Psychology in the Department of Psychology, University of Zululand, Kwa-Dlangezwa Zululand, 2007. / The purpose of the study was to identify resilient factors in thirty Swazi families who had experienced death of their member. The researcher used a questionnaire that included qualitative components as well as the following measurement scales: Social Support Index, Relative and Friend Support index, Family Problem Solving Communication Index, Family Hardiness Index, The Family Attachment and Changeability Index 8, Family Time and Routine index. Thirty families were given questionnaires which one adult and one adolescent had to complete. Prior to the main study responses were elicited from a small focus group as to the meaning of the concepts of family, crisis and resilience. Participants' understanding of family was not confined to the immediate, biological nuclear family, but extended to those people from whom one gives and receives unconditional love, trust, support, and with whom there is a sense of togetherness. Crisis was defined by the participants as a highly emotional state of psychological turmoil which the person concerned feels totally unable to cope. Personal resources which would normally be used are overwhelmed and the accompanying feelings of helplessness lead to bewilderment, distress, despair and even panic. Resilience was understood as having inner strength and the ability to overcome and move forward in times of crises. Qualitative results indicated that Swazi families perceived the following rank ordered strengths to have helped them during their bereavement; having a supportive community, respect of family members, support of relatives, open communication between family members, religion, support of friends, trust within family members, understanding within the family, intra family support, understanding and love within the family, financial stability and inner strength. This study indicated the following significant resiliency factors in Swazi families: both child's and parent's perceptions of: social support; reformulation of the problem, mobilization of the family to get and accept help and family time and routines such as having meals together. Other significant resiliency factors included children's perceptions of control, and parents' perceptions of family importance.

This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a group intervention with 12 bereaved children, aged 8-12. All of the children had been bereaved of a parent within the past 2 years. Due to the small number of children available for inclusion in the study, 6 of the children had previously received individual professional help for grief related issued. The design was a repeated measure pre and post intervention between group design. The study compared the two sub-groups of bereaved children with a group of non-bereaved children who were matched in terms of age and sex.

Submitted in fulfilment ofthe requirements for the degree of D.Phil in psychology in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2005. / Increasingly, hundreds of thousands of children under the age of seven are experiencing the death of their parents in South Africa. Scholarly debate pertaining to childhood bereavement has been and continues to be an arena lacking in clarity, particularly with respect to how this experience impacts upon the young child. To this end, this inquiry attempts to capture an in-depth understanding of this experience and stimulate awareness regarding the needs of bereaved children. Through a phenomenological approach this investigation focuses specifically on the personal experience of six children who experienced the death of a parent during their pre-school years, in the context of a group format. An aspect of the inquiry explores the debate around intervention and service provision for bereaved children. Six core themes are derived which reflect perceptions of this loss. The value of a phenomenological approach with relevance to the study of early bereavement is illuminated. Some limitations of this study are recognized and suggestions for future research are proposed. Based on the insights gleaned through this study, implications are brought to the fore that pertain to the general experience of parental bereavement and service delivery, with particular regard to the context of South Africa.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [245]-257).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 221-233).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1996. / Includes prospectus. This is an electronic reproduction of TREN, #049-0270. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 221-233).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Ashland Theological Seminary, 1999. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 129-133, 13-16 at the end).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1996. / Includes prospectus. This is an electronic reproduction of TREN, #049-0270. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 221-233).

The question around which this thesis is gathered arose from a period of public concern regarding historical practice in respect of post-mortem examinations during which the researcher was required to engage with a significant number of parents who had lost a child, often many years previously. These encounters offered privileged insight into the longevity, nature and expressions of parental grief and, on subsequent reflection, raised questions as to how the specifics of Christian belief might meaningfully engage the pastoral needs of a bereaved parent. Through its capacity to accommodate conversation between human experience; the insights offered by science, philosophy and culture; and the Christian message, practical theology offered a discipline within which such questions could best be explored. Using a research methodology drawing on the principles of hermeneutic phenomenology the lived experience of ten bereaved parents was engaged through semi-structured interviews. The transcription and analysis of these interviews identified key themes - connection; continuity and identity; and reunion - which became the subject of further reflection. Common to these themes is the concept of a continuing relationship ('bond') with the deceased child, a concept at variance with the Freudian thinking that has shaped much of bereavement care over the past century. Such thinking understands a sustained 'relationship' as futile and promotes patterns of care that aim for a staged and time-limited recovery. In contrast the more recent paradigm of 'continuing bonds', which has particular resonance with the loss of a child, offers a different perspective on grief which, in turn, finds accord with a Christian narrative that is profoundly relational and incorporates a message of resurrection offering explicit hope in regard to matters of continued existence, retained identity and eventual reunion.