Thesis (Ph.D.(Psychotherapy))-University of Pretoria, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

M.A. / Death and loss accompany us throughout our lives and are experienced in a variety of forms and situations. Numerous researches have been undertaken to gain some perspective on death. and loss, however these attempts have proven to be impersonal, incomplete and of limited use, as death tends to evade direct scrutiny. An attempt is made here to observe death and loss from a stance that respects the human element. The personal experiences of adults who have lost parent/s at a young age are examined. This paper explores the constructions of death and loss, as well as the meanings that are attributed to these experiences. A social constructionist approach is used to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the participants' relationships with death and loss. One of the primary aims of this paper is to investigate the implications that these constructions of death and loss have for the way people live and make sense of their lives. This study focusses on how death requires the individual to reconstruct a sense of identity and relationship with the world. Some of the major conceptualisations of death, loss and mourning are reviewed in conjunction with the input of philosophers, poets and creative writers allowing for a richer, fuller perception of these events. The aim of this paper is not to develop a comprehensive understanding of death and loss, but rather to approach these constructs from a more personal perspective. This paper moves away from modernist thinking and includes the researcher as a participant where personal biases, experiences and understandings are included.

No description available.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree MASTER OF EDUCATION in the Department of Educational Psychology of the Faculty of Education at the University of Zululand, 1997. / The aim of this study was to establish the effect of the death of a parent on the psychic life of a child and the support available to assfst the child in his bereavement. As introduction a psychopedagogic perspective of the family was given in describing marriage, the family as an education milieu, parental roles and the special relationship between parent and child. The accompaniment of the child towards adulthood is dependent on the quality of the parent-child relationship. The parents' educational responsibility is to provide adequately for the physical, psychological and spiritual needs of the child. The death of a parent is a traumatic experience for the child. The child feels the effects of death as intensely as an adult but in different ways. Research contributions on how children develop an understanding about death are in general agreement that this understanding develops in an orderly sequence from a state of total unawareness in very early childhood through stages to the point where death can be considered logically in cause of terms and outcome. The death of a parent can affect the child physically and psychologically. If the crisis situation of the child after the death of a loved one is not overcome, his becoming toward adulthood might be stifled. A wide range of behaviour problems may result in affective lability and hamper the child's cognitive development. To overcome the trauma of the death of a parent the child needs support from people close to him - people he knows and trusts. After the death of a parent the process of mourning is considered as very important to the child's -recovery", and needs to be facilitated by the remaining parent or by other significant adult figures. The church, school and welfare institutions also play an important role in rendering support to the bereaved child and his family. In conclusion, the findings emanating from the literature study were presented. Based on these findings, the following recommendations were made: Urgent attention must be given to the introduction of death education programmes in schools. School guidance counsellors must initiate the establishment of programmes on death and dying in schools. Further research on the affect of the death of a parent on children should be undertaken.

Much research relating to children and death has focused on the age-graded developmental model originally proposed by Nagy in the late 1940s. Children are alleged to pass from an infantile to a mature view, seeing death first as separation, then as the result of intervention by a supernatural being, and finally as an irreversible biological process. Accepted theory for thirty years, scholars have since noted difficulty in duplicating Nagy's findings and have come to question the universal application of the developmental model. Bluebond-Langner proposes an alternative model in which all views of death are present in all stages of development. She maintains that the particular orientation a child displays is a result of personal and social experiences.

No description available.

Thesis (PhD)--Universiteit van Stellenbosch, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Most researchers agree that for a child the death of a parent constitutes a psychological risk. Some of these children might experience the first onset of psychiatric disorder (depression, anxiety or substance use disorder) prior to age 20, with a peak age of occurrence at 18. Within the South African context children are more and more confronted with parental death due to the upsurge of violence, the increase in HIV, aids and tuberculoses, as well as many fatal traffic accidents. The need for psychological support of these children within the school system was brought to the attention of the researcher by concerned surviving parents. Society tends to expect an early (often premature) return of survivors to the activities of everyday life. The adult or child thus often finds him-/herself isolated in grief. In family context on the other hand, the single parent has to deal with the personal loss of a spouse, the children's loss of a parent and often also the grandparents' loss of a child. Furthermore, roles within the family have to be reallocated so as to accommodate the lost person's functions. The surviving parent is therefore often not adequately available for the child who, having had his/her personal world and belief system shattered, does not always understand the consequences of death, primarily due to cognitive immaturity. They may react with anxiety, irrational beliefs and suppression, thus blocking a healthier course of grief. The aim of this study was to design and implement a psycho-educational grief resolution program and to investigate the effect thereof on the mood states, coping skills and self-concepts of 17 urban adolescents who had experienced parental death. Using the General Systems Theory as metatheory and the Intervention Designand- Development research methodology (Thomas & Rothman, 1994), a model of adolescent grief resolution was devised which served as basis for the design of the program. The participants were requested to reappraise personal resolution of grief tasks and were introduced to cognitive restructuring (for example the relinquishment of suppression and the disputing of irrational beliefs). With a clearer understanding and the skills to control emotions and behaviour, they were encouraged to attribute (now with hindsight) meaning to the experience of having lost a loved one, and to incorporate the event into a personal narrative. Statistical analyses of test-retest results indicated, amongst others, that adolescents tend to prematurely avow acceptance of the loss; that the experimental group demonstrated less fatigue-inertia after attending the program than the control group; and that a high risk group, comprised of members of both the experimental and control groups, showed more depression during the re-test situation. The last finding indicates that a high risk group should rather receive psychotherapy than participate in a psychoeducational program which is not primarily of a psychotherapeutic nature. On the other hand taking part in the program caused those adolescents to become aware of their need for psychotherapy. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die meeste navorsers is dit eens dat die dood van 'n ouer vir die kind sielkundige risiko's inhou. Sommige van dié kinders mag voor die ouderdom van 20 jaar (met die grootste aantal teen 18 jaar) psigiatriese probleme soos depressie, angs of middelmisbruik vertoon. Suid-Afrikaanse kinders word tans toenemend aan ouersterfte blootgestel weens die toename in geweld, die Hl-virus, vigs, tuberkulose en verkeersongelukke. Agtergeblewe ouers het die behoefte aan sielkundige ondersteuning van dié kinders binne skoolverband onder die aandag van die navorser gebring. Dit blyk dat die gemeenskap 'n vroeë (dikwels voortydige) terugkeer van die treurende na die gewone daaglikse aktiwiteite verlang. Die treurende beleef hom-/haarself dus dikwels as alleen in smart. In gesinsverband word daar verder hoë eise aan die enkelouer gestel, soos om die verlies van 'n huweliksmaat te verwerk, om kinders wat 'n ouer verloor het, en moontlik ook grootouers wat 'n kind verloor het, te ondersteun. Verder moet die rolle binne die gesin herverdeel word om ook die oorledene se funksies te vervul. Die beskikbaarheid van die agtergeblewe ouer is dus ingekort, en die kind wie se leefwêreld en oortuigings aan flarde is, het weens veral kognitiewe onrypheid, selde begrip vir die nagevolge van sterwensverlies. Hulle mag reageer met angs, irrasionele denke en onttrekking wat die rouproses kan inhibeer. Die doel van die studie was die ontwerp en toepassing van 'n verliesverwerkingsprogram Cn psigo-ontwikkelingsprogram) en die bepaling van die programeffek op die gemoedstoestand, streshanteringsvaardighede en selfkonsep van 17 stedelike adolessente met ouerverlies. Met die Algemene Sisteemteorie as metateorie en die Intervensie-Ontwerp-en-Ontwikkelingsnavorsingsparadigma (Thomas & Rothman, 1994) kon 'n adolessente verliesverwerkingsmodel saamgestel word wat gedien het as basis vir die ontwerp van die program. Die deelnemers kon die eie verwerking van routake herbeoordeel en kognitiewe herstrukturering waar nodig toepas (onder meer deur die opheffing van onderdrukte gedagtes en die betwisting van irrasionele aannames). Met beter begrip vir die eie situasie en beheer oor emosie en gedrag kon ook betekenisgewing (terugskouend oor die verliesgebeure) volg en kon die ervaring geïnkorporeer word in 'n persoonlike lewensverhaal. Statistiese ontleding van die toets-hertoetsresultate het onder meer daarop gedui dat adolessente neig om voortydig aanvaarding van die verlies aan te dui; dat die eksperimentele groep, vergeleke met die kontrolegroep, minder vermoeid-lusteloos was na programdeelname; en dat hoë risikodeelnemers uit beide die eksperimentele en kontrolegroepe met die na-toetsing meer depressief voorgekom het. Laasgenoemde bevinding dui daarop dat die hoë risikogroep eerder op psigoterapie aangewese was. Diegene uit die hoë risikogroep wat wel aan die program deelgeneem het, het nogtans bewus geword van die behoefte aan sodanige terapie en dit daadwerklik opgevolg.

This study addresses how parents communicate with their children about Significant Emotional Events (SEEs). A SEE is an experience that is so mentally engaging as to cause an individual to consider, examine, and possibly change one's initial values or value system. It examines parent's goals, concerns, and values related to SEE communication. A SEE involving family violence and death was selected for this study. Interviews were conducted with seven parents about the communication that they had with their children about the SEE. The interviews were transcribed and subsequently analyzed. Analysis of the interviews reveal a number of themes (e.g., sickness and mental health), and values (e.g., honesty, trust, sympathy, understanding, right and wrong). / Graduation date: 1997

Syftet med studien är att synliggöra hur barn tänker om liv och död och deras uppfattning om livets uppkomst. Genom att utgå från ett biologiskt- och ett filosofiskt perspektiv så är mitt syfte att synliggöra barns oliktänkande i ämnet. Min valda metod till studien är semistrukturerad intervju integrerat med bildskapande med barn mellan 5-7 år. I resultatet av min studie så synliggörs barns olika sätt att förstå och uttrycka livsnära fenomen på. Resultatet visade också på barns oliktänkande genom en naturalistisk-, evolutionär- eller en skapelsekopplad beskrivning av livets och människans uppkomst. De medverkande barnen visade en nyfikenhet, engagemang och en tydlig vilja till att reflektera i givna ämnen. Den insamlade data utgjorde en tydlig bild av barns oliktänkande runt begreppen levande, liv och död och livets uppkomst. / The main purpose of this study is to make children’s thoughts about life, death and their concept of origin of life visible. Through a combined biological- and philosophical perspective my aim is to make children’s diversity of thoughts visual. My chosen method for my study is semi-structured interviews integrated with drawings with children between 5-7 years old. In the result of the study children´s different way of understanding and expressing their thoughts about life become visible. The result also shows children’s different concept about origin of life connected to a naturalistic-, an evolutionary -and a creationist theory. I noticed a great curiosity and engagement from the participating children and a distinct commitment to reflect over given topics. The collected data gave a clear illustration of children’s different kind of thoughts of being alive, life and death and their understanding of origin of life.

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.