This study investigated the differences and similarities in bereavement due to HIV/AIDS and bereavement due to other forms of death. The participants comprised of nine (9) mothers and two (2) fathers of deceased children, varying in age from eight (8) months to twenty (20) years. A single, unstructured interview was used to collect the data. Grounded theory was utilised in the analysis of the qualitative data. Comparisons were drawn between HIV/AIDS and non- HIV /AIDS related bereavement. The findings indicate a difference in the experience of HIV/AIDS related bereavement and non-HIV/AIDS related bereavement. Stigma played a significant negative role in the experiences of those parents /caregivers whose children had died from HIV/AIDS. In addition, parents/caregivers experienced significant feelings of responsibility for their child 's infection although the child had not contracted the disease from the parent. The implications and applications of this study are twofold . Firstly, a better understanding of the bereavement process can result in important and innovative recommendations being implemented in order to refine existing HIV/AIDS intervention programmes or develop new ones. And, secondly, it can result in a more refined approach to the care and comfort that is currently being provided for HIV/AIDS patients and terminally ill patients and their families. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

The high levels of HIV/AIDS and violent crime in South Africa mean that millions of children are being forced, and will continue to be forced, to deal with the death of a parent/primary caregiver in their early and middle childhood years. Acknowledging that does not lessen the apprehension and uneasiness which lingers in formal and informal discussions of children, death, dying and grief, nor does it ameliorate the fact that childhood bereavement is becoming a normative childhood experience in South Africa. It is vital, therefore, to understand what are South African children's experiences of bereavement and grief, and to explore what impacts are likely to be exerted on their development. Children do not grieve in the same way; and children's grief is influenced by factors such as environment, unique experiences, developmental level, personality, age and gender. Family, too, is important because it is still the primary institution of society, and it influences substantially how children understand death, bereavement and grief. The school, too, has an impact on childhood grief. The majority of school-going children in South Africa are in primary school grades. Attending primary school corresponds with (most often) middle childhood, which is a critically important developmental stage. The experience of bereavement and grief during middle childhood is challenging precisely because it occurs in such a sensitive emotionally, cognitively and socially developmental period. Childhood grief experienced in that period can have long-term consequences. Important, too, is the fact that school-going children will, more than for younger children, not only experience grief privately but will grieve in public settings such as the school setting. This study, therefore, was concerned with exploring and gaining insight into the dynamics of bereavement and grief as experienced by children, who were in middle childhood, and enrolled in the primary school system. An exploratory design was chosen to explore the issue. A purposive sample was drawn from the school's list of scholars, and included 25 children attending Grades Five to Seven (Senior Primary Phase) at a co-educational, English-medium, state school. Data were collected both qualitatively and quantitatively. Qualitative primary data collection, involving in-depth interviews, was chosen because it allowed the researcher to explore the issue from the children's own perspectives. Each child was interviewed by the researcher over two to three sessions. Quantitative secondary data collection, involving key demographic and academic information extracted from the school's records, was included, and that helped triangulate and contextualise the data collected in the interviews. This study found that children in middle childhood do experience a diverse range of grief responses to the death of their parents/primary caregivers in the school environment, among other places, and some of those grief responses were challenging. Although respondents experienced different and confusing emotions; and although some had had their grief acknowledged by significant others, while others had not, all were able to engage in honest, clear discussions about death and grief. Respondents reported experiencing a range of secondary losses associated with the initial loss on their daily lives, and that was especially so for girl children. Respondents did know how to access support services but had not done so. The respondents also expressed a need to be encouraged to remember and memorialize their dead parent/primary caregiver. The study found, too, that the more prepared and supported the bereaved child was prior to that death, the better s/he coped with the event. Understanding children's bereavement can help those individuals and organisations, which are responsible for children's optimal development, provide children with the necessary support to prevent the child's bereavement and grief from becoming a lasting trauma. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2007.

The purpose of this research study was to capture the experience of a multigenerational, resilient family who had experienced a nonnormative stressor event. A phenomenological case-study approach was utilized as methodology to guide this study. Interviews were held collectively with the entire family and individually with participating family members. All interviews were audio-taped and transcribed. The family's story of resilience emerged from this transcript material. In addition, the process of thematic analysis yielded nine main intergenerational themes that helped to explain this family's resilience. They included: 1) Be flexible about communication; 2) Connect with one another; 3) Have access to and accept support; 4) Detach from the experience; 5) Normalize the stressor; 6) Minimize the children's distress; 7) Focus on the positive; 8) Find strength in religion and 9) Find creative ways of coping. Results also indicated a strong multigenerational component to this family's resilience. In addition, resilience was found to be a process made up of both struggle and occasional costs. Findings were compared to relevant professional literature on family resilience, including The Resiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment and Adaptation developed by McCubbin, McCubbin, Thompson and Thompson in 1995. All of these findings led to a number of implications for counselling practice, as well as for future research.

The research literature documents the relative disadvantage of widows in coping with grief, both in a greater vulnerability themselves for mortality or ill health, but also for a sudden loss of resources from losing a spouse. Moreover, widowhood in the Canadian cultural communities may be an additional burden if met with service from mainstream care professionals and agencies at variance with their culturally-appropriate grieving practices and assumptions. Specifically, the meaning(s) of bereavement and grief for Hindu-Canadian widows are not well understood, and the goal of this study is to enhance transcultural understanding of this population in counselling and beyond. An inductive, descriptive qualitative method focusing on the subjective, lived experience of key co-researchers, using selective and nonprobability sampling was utilized to maximize the relatively small sample size typical of a phenomenological approach. This was used to describe and explain the meanings and experiences of grief for five older Hindu-Canadian widows within the context of their own cultural setting and world view. Data were collected from five female members of the Hindu- Canadian communities. An additional triangulation method of a general class of culmraUy-informed co-researchers was used to help corroborate the obtained themes. The co-researcher's responses were the data for this study, and a method of "constant comparative analysis" (I^ininger, 1985) was utilized in a search for themes through a process of higher abstraction. Data analysis of the verbatim transcripts occurred simultaneously with data collection and, guided by Leininger's (1990) 'Thases of Analysis for Qualitative Data," the process unfolded with: (a) collecting and documenting raw data; (b) identification of descriptors; (c) pattern analysis; and (d) theme formulation. Ultimately six themes were abstracted from forty-five sub-categories as a portrait of the meanings and experiences of widowhood for this group of Hindu-Canadian widows. Themes for this group of key co-researchers are as follows: First, status transition from wife to widow meant resignation to the husband's death, rather than acceptance through discrete stages of recovery: Second, meanings and expressions of grief centered on beliefs about the enduring and eternal quality of the husband's life force as intrinsic and essential to the widow's own lifeways: Third, the transition from wife to widow entailed a double affliction in status loss as well as in the personal domain of intimacy and partnership: Fourth, the meanings and expressions of both grief phenomena and status transition reflect an ethic of collective good and duty-based interpersonal morality, but with acculturation causing a nascent and generational transition in such moral orientation: Fifth, status transition can entail a degree of liminality, out of bicultural dislocation and transformational variables such as education: Finally, a fundamental meaning of their Hindu-Canadian widowhood experience is its spiritual opportunity. Despite some diversity in their Hindu diaspora and sect, the explicated themes illustrate a common experience and meaning attendant on widowhood for the co-researchers. This study investigated a portion of the underlying cultural logic of widowhood and grief phenomena for these constituents of Hinduism, and highlighted their cultural constructions of meaning and experience, allowing us to improve our transcultural knowledge and understanding of the unique needs of this population in the field of Counselling and beyond. As a phenomenological study, themes and suppositions abstracted from this relatively small sample are limited beyond the precisely-defined context of its five co-researchers. Nevertheless, a counsellor might well benefit from the potential offered here for finer-grained assessments and therapeutic relationships with widows in our Hindu communities.

The primary purpose of this study was to examine nurses including student nurses perceptions of death education in southern Alberta as one way of improving futrue nursing curricula. Five nurse subgroups were included, as follows: college and university students, hospital nurses, community nurses, and nurse educators. A questionnaire was developed and piloted prior to distribution to 450 nurses in six locations, including two urban and four rural sites, in southern Alberta. Completed, useable returns numbered 373 (83%). Descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and t-tests were used to analyze the data from scaled questionnaire items; content analysis was used to interpret written response items. Theoretical and conceptual frameworks were developed and utilized to guide the interpretation of findings. Generally, nurses perceived that existing death education remains inadequate as preparation for sound clinical nursing practice. Several statistically significant findings related to the provision of professional terminal care were reported amon the five nurse subgroups. Nurses identified concerns and deficits within existing nursing death educaiton and offered several specific suggestions for improvement. The improvement of death education for nurses will most likely result in the delivery of safe, effective, quality nursing care practice to the dying person and family. / xi, 160 leaves : ill., charts ; 28 cm.

This qualitative research project is a narrative inquiry into the loss experiences of four bereaved individuals who have lost an immediate family member; one of them is myself. In particular, the meanings assigned to the losses and how those meanings impacted the grieving process were explored by listening to in-depth narratives of the participants’ experiences of loss and grief. A narrative methodology was used, based on a constructivist epistemology that describes a human tendency to put events in narrative forms in order to give them a sense of continuity and meaning. Four narratives, along with their respective analysis, were presented in separate chapters, with my own narrative presented as the last narrative chapter. Of the four of us, two are males: one from Jewish-American and the other from German-Romanian descent, and two are females: both from Persian descent. The four participants ranged from 39 to 71 years of age at the time of the interviews, with the losses occurring 3 to 25 years before the interviews. Findings of this research reveal the unique and complex grieving processes of the participants. A variety of meanings were assigned to the losses with each meaning having its own possible impact on the course of bereavement. Each participant expressed her/his own personal assumptions about the nature of life, love, suffering, human vulnerabilities, and death stemming from their life experiences and culture. We all expressed in our own unique way that the loss of a special person, a loving bond, and a significant relationship will always remain painful, but their memories, legacies, and love will continue beyond their deaths, which can help us in finding meaningful, productive, and hopeful paths. Hopefully this research project will provide some validation and inspiration for other grieving individuals and contribute to the current understanding of bereavement and grief.

This qualitative research project is a narrative inquiry into the loss experiences of four bereaved individuals who have lost an immediate family member; one of them is myself. In particular, the meanings assigned to the losses and how those meanings impacted the grieving process were explored by listening to in-depth narratives of the participants’ experiences of loss and grief. A narrative methodology was used, based on a constructivist epistemology that describes a human tendency to put events in narrative forms in order to give them a sense of continuity and meaning. Four narratives, along with their respective analysis, were presented in separate chapters, with my own narrative presented as the last narrative chapter. Of the four of us, two are males: one from Jewish-American and the other from German-Romanian descent, and two are females: both from Persian descent. The four participants ranged from 39 to 71 years of age at the time of the interviews, with the losses occurring 3 to 25 years before the interviews. Findings of this research reveal the unique and complex grieving processes of the participants. A variety of meanings were assigned to the losses with each meaning having its own possible impact on the course of bereavement. Each participant expressed her/his own personal assumptions about the nature of life, love, suffering, human vulnerabilities, and death stemming from their life experiences and culture. We all expressed in our own unique way that the loss of a special person, a loving bond, and a significant relationship will always remain painful, but their memories, legacies, and love will continue beyond their deaths, which can help us in finding meaningful, productive, and hopeful paths. Hopefully this research project will provide some validation and inspiration for other grieving individuals and contribute to the current understanding of bereavement and grief.

The central premise of this dissertation is that a pastorally sympathetic assessment of cultural bereavement healing approaches in the light of a biblically informed understanding of death, bereavement and afterlife provide a basis for the bereaved to cope with the angst associated with bereavement through death and engenders pastoral care among the Abaluyia. It is noted that although many Abaluyia Christians consciously or otherwise lurch back to cultural approaches for consolation and healing during bereavement, there is a lack of meaningful engagement between the Abaluyia culture and the gospel. The result of this lack of engagement has not been syncretism as commonly assumed but rather parallelism whereby, on the one hand, the gospel is held as though it were alien and whimsical in contrast with traditional beliefs and practices which are perceived as practical and consequential. On the other hand, cultural approaches are dismissed as being part of ancestor worship or superstition and thus contrary to the gospel. In view of these extreme perceptions, Abaluyia Christians often feel guilty for either engaging in or shunning cultural approaches thus raising a pastoral concern in relation to caring for the bereaved. In response to the aforementioned pastoral concern, this dissertation firstly examines the role of cultural beliefs and practices in mediating healing for the bereaved among the Abaluyia. It is suggested that the persistence of cultural models is informed largely by their therapeutic value. Consequently, attention is put on the efficacious beliefs and practices employed by the Abaluyia which include community based approach to bereavement, rituals, systems of inheritance and care, conduct of the bereaved, procedures for forgiveness and reconciliation, hospitality, acts of benevolence and performances. Secondly, the identified cultural approaches are reflected upon in the light of the normative biblical teachings. The reflection is done in order to expose and isolate cultural beliefs and practices that are at odds with biblical teachings. The reflection follows a systematic analysis undertaken to establish the biblical understanding of death and the afterlife as well as a biblical hermeneutical analysis of pertinent biblical passages in order to draw paradigmatic biblical practices in bereavement. It is argued that the biblical ministry of healing in bereavement is rooted in the hope of resurrection and the conception of God as compassionate in his character. Lastly, an integrated pastoral care model, namely, Circle for Pastoral Concern, is proposed as a tool for bereavement healing among the Abaluyia. The proposed integrated model is cognisant of local cultural milieu in engaging in pastoral care for the bereaved. According to the Circle for Pastoral Concern model, the community of believers in their local setting, under the Triune God, form the context for healing. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Pastoral))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

The central premise of this dissertation is that a pastorally sympathetic assessment of cultural bereavement healing approaches in the light of a biblically informed understanding of death, bereavement and afterlife provide a basis for the bereaved to cope with the angst associated with bereavement through death and engenders pastoral care among the Abaluyia. It is noted that although many Abaluyia Christians consciously or otherwise lurch back to cultural approaches for consolation and healing during bereavement, there is a lack of meaningful engagement between the Abaluyia culture and the gospel. The result of this lack of engagement has not been syncretism as commonly assumed but rather parallelism whereby, on the one hand, the gospel is held as though it were alien and whimsical in contrast with traditional beliefs and practices which are perceived as practical and consequential. On the other hand, cultural approaches are dismissed as being part of ancestor worship or superstition and thus contrary to the gospel. In view of these extreme perceptions, Abaluyia Christians often feel guilty for either engaging in or shunning cultural approaches thus raising a pastoral concern in relation to caring for the bereaved. In response to the aforementioned pastoral concern, this dissertation firstly examines the role of cultural beliefs and practices in mediating healing for the bereaved among the Abaluyia. It is suggested that the persistence of cultural models is informed largely by their therapeutic value. Consequently, attention is put on the efficacious beliefs and practices employed by the Abaluyia which include community based approach to bereavement, rituals, systems of inheritance and care, conduct of the bereaved, procedures for forgiveness and reconciliation, hospitality, acts of benevolence and performances. Secondly, the identified cultural approaches are reflected upon in the light of the normative biblical teachings. The reflection is done in order to expose and isolate cultural beliefs and practices that are at odds with biblical teachings. The reflection follows a systematic analysis undertaken to establish the biblical understanding of death and the afterlife as well as a biblical hermeneutical analysis of pertinent biblical passages in order to draw paradigmatic biblical practices in bereavement. It is argued that the biblical ministry of healing in bereavement is rooted in the hope of resurrection and the conception of God as compassionate in his character. Lastly, an integrated pastoral care model, namely, Circle for Pastoral Concern, is proposed as a tool for bereavement healing among the Abaluyia. The proposed integrated model is cognisant of local cultural milieu in engaging in pastoral care for the bereaved. According to the Circle for Pastoral Concern model, the community of believers in their local setting, under the Triune God, form the context for healing. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Pastoral))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

This study explored the experiences of bereaved family caregivers (FCGs) with uncomplicated grief in hospice palliative care and what they found helpful and challenging in their adjustment to the loss of the person for whom they were caring. The cumulative effects of both caregiving and bereavement can be detrimental to FCGs’ physical, social, and mental well-being. Many FCGs with uncomplicated or normal grief ask for assistance in bereavement. Yet, in the bereavement care literature, there is uncertainty about what may be beneficial to them and how best to support them. An interpretive descriptive design was used for this study of eleven bereaved FCGs with uncomplicated grief. The FCGs included five daughters, 5 spouses (2 wives, 2 husbands, 1 same-sex partner), and one sibling who had cared for a dying family member and who ranged in age from 23 to 76 years. All participants resided in the Vancouver Island Health Authority – South Island region. Data were collected through eleven in-depth interviews and one focus group. Data were analyzed using inductive analysis. The FCGs reported that the impact of loss was experienced as a magnitude of changes in their everyday lives, the loss of the connection with the cared-for person, and changes within themselves. They also reported a need for a safe community in which to grieve where they had quality relationships and/or shared common experiences of loss with others. Finally, the FCGs reported active engagement in their adjustment in bereavement that included such strategies as remembering the person who died, striving for balance, and awareness of personal growth. The findings from this study have the potential to assist health care and other professionals to understand the bereavement experiences of FCGs in hospice palliative care and to inform bereavement care for FCGs with uncomplicated grief.