The purpose of this study was to comprehend and illustrate what bereaved widows experienced during their grieving and bereavement process. It succinctly and poignantly intended to investigate the psyche of the bereaved person and understand what it really meant to lose a spouse. The grieving process poses a range of unique daily challenges for anyone who has lost a spouse. The widowed in this research were all distinctly faced with different experiences, occurrences and responses to their everyday predicaments. This study therefore endeavoured to delve beyond the intricacies and complexities of death and had intensely explored the psyche of the bereaved person in order to understand what it actually meant to lose a spouse. The sample consisted of 12 recently bereaved widows in an old age home and a comparative group of 12 widows living with their relatives. A qualitative study was employed to gain insight into the experiences of the recently bereaved . The results gave insight into the emotions experienced and coping mechanisms of the bereaved . The results indicated the multirole phenomenon which bereavement placed on the widowed , which , depending on the ability and desire to compensate for their new conflicting demands, as well as their responsibilities that had prevailed and how they had to come to terms with their depressing and disheartening challenges. Those results profoundly influenced the veracity of their grief reaction. It is therefore that based on this study, assistance and support can be mobilised by the South African Government who could provide the stanchion for more trained professionals and counselors to assist with the behavioural and cognitive challenges that consequences from the passing away of a spouse. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.(Clinical psychology) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2011

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2007 / Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree of Master of Social Work. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-67).

The present research study investigates the lived experience of Traumatic Bereavement in order to understand the impact such an experience of trauma and loss has on the bereaved person’s meaningmaking process. The study defined Traumatic Bereavement in a broad sense by including all deaths that were untimely, unexpected, sudden and unpreventable. Six traumatically bereaved women were interviewed, with Traumatic Bereavement experiences. These included heart attacks, a homicide, a road traffic accident and sudden death because of an undetected brain tumour. The data were analysed using a Descriptive Phenomenological approach – in particular Collaizi (1978) – and five main themes emerged. An exhaustive description of these themes was produced in order to capture the lived experience of Traumatic Bereavement. Firstly, the traumatically bereaved experiences an intense shock which is accompanied by a feeling that the mind is in a state of cognitive arrest, unable to comprehend the reality of the loss. Secondly, the bereaved experiences a profound loss of meaning about how to go on living in the face of such trauma and loss. This is characterised by anxiety, fear and a profound realisation that she is no longer safe in the world, as there is no world order. Thirdly, the bereaved experiences an Existential awakening about her human condition. This is characterised by the feeling that human existence is absurd and meaningless as death is unpredictable and random. Fourthly, the bereaved experiences the need for meaning. She finds meaning by re-evaluating her life, being mindful of what is important to her and prioritising relationships with significant others. Fifthly, the bereaved experiences a spiritual awakening that helps her continue living in a meaningful way. The findings illustrate that Traumatic Bereavement has a profound impact on the traumatically bereaved person’s meaning-making process, bringing to her attention the need to become mindful of life’s opportunity for meaning. It is the ability to engage authentically with the Existential Givens of life that enables the traumatically bereaved person to establish meaning. The study proposes an Existential-Phenomenological Counselling Psychology clinical model for therapeutic work with traumatically bereaved clients.

D.Litt. et Phil. / Internationally, significant efforts have been made to understand complicated grief. However, the topic is not well covered in the South African psychological literature and much work remains to be done with regard to gaining insight into factors that contribute towards its development. To this end, the aim of the study was to explore the influence of context on bereavement to the extent that grief becomes complicated. The stance adopted is that bereavement and grief are experiences that cannot be dissociated from the context in which it occurs. From this point of view, bereavement and grief were construed as both personal and social experiences. Drawing on ecosystemic theory, this study focused on micro and macro contexts. As such, emphasis was on socio-environmental contexts, the family context and the personal context. Literature was surveyed so as to highlight the extent to which these contexts either heighten the risk of maladaptive reactions or served the purpose of ameliorating the impact of bereavement and grief. The literature review was also extended to incorporate an understanding of earlier linear stage and phase theories of grief. Similarly, contemporary conceptual models, which represent more complex multifaceted and integrative approaches, were included. While earlier theorists tended to attribute maladaptive grief to intra-individual pathology, contemporary approaches consider maladaptive grief responses as a function of the individuals’ inability to maintain a balance between the different dimensions of their post-bereavement lives. Methodologically, this study employed an exploratory research approach. Semi-structured interviews based on predetermined guide questions, were conducted with thirteen participants ranging in age from 25 to 45 years. Emphasis was placed on the loss of an attachment relationship, which included the death of a child, sibling, parent, spouse or live-in partner. Both natural and unnatural deaths were focused on. In an effort to control for gender as an external variable, all the participants were females. Responses to the predetermined guide questions were translated into categories. The frequency of responses within each category was calculated and presented as percentages. Categories in relation to the influence of the socio-environmental context on complicated grief translated into living environment risks and community support. Cognizance was also taken of how macro societal institutions and processes such as socio-economic factors, the political climate and societal attitudes, manifesting in medical attitudes shape the social and personal contexts in which bereavement is experienced and complicated grief is expressed. The influence of these macro institutions and processes filter through to the living environments and communities in which death occurred. Similarly, categories in relation to the influence of family context on complicated grief translated into family patterns of interaction and relationships, family emotional integration and family support. Categories reflecting the influence of the personal context on complicated grief were represented by making meaning of the death, the mode of death and the belief systems of the participants. The belief systems were addressed in terms of the participants’ religious and cultural beliefs. Being exploratory in nature, the study did not provide definitive answers with regard to the influence of context on complicated grief. However, it was possible to establish potential relationships between various dimensions of context and complicated grief. The study also highlighted the need for a theory of complicated grief, which embrace contextual influences. This is likely to lend support for situating the locus of complicated grief in the social context in which it occurs. The findings of this research support the idea that complicated grief is being influenced by the social context in which it occurs.

No description available.

This study investigated predictors of anticipatory grief among 70 caregivers using hospice services to care for a dying individual. Anticipatory grief (AG) was positively associated with disengagement coping; more specifically, it was negatively associated with problem avoidance and positively associated with wishful thinking and social withdrawal. Additionally, attachment anxiety was positively associated with anticipatory grief, while attachment avoidance was negatively related. Lastly, spirituality was found to be negatively associated with anticipatory grief. Engagement coping, caregiver strain, and masculine and feminine gender role identification did not significantly predict AG. Implications for clinical practice with caregivers as well as recommendations for future research are offered.

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Middle East Technical University, 2003. / Keywords: Infant death, parental grief reactions, grief, personal growth, gender differences, demographic variables.

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to gain an understanding of parental grief experiences within the context of an early hearing detection and intervention program and to examine parents’ perception of the professional support they received. Through focus group interviews, eight mothers and seven fathers, whose infants were diagnosed with a hearing loss at birth through a universal newborn hearing screening and who were confronted immediately with a health care system necessitating decisions about early intervention, were invited to share their emotional journey and their experiences of being supported. Parents shared emotions associated with grief and processing grief, their emotional and informational needs, and what influenced their decision making process. Differences between spouses were also examined. The findings are presented through three central themes. The first theme revealed that grief was a part of parents’ emotional journey. Specifically parents shared feelings of grief related to the loss of what they had anticipated, and mothers shared feelings of loss associated with their anticipated experience of motherhood. The grief experience was different for mothers and fathers. The second theme revealed that as parents processed their grief, they experienced a paradox of emotionally moving forward and staying in place. Parents shared feelings of happiness and joy when they spoke about their children yet they also shared experiences that reflected a continuance of grieving. The final theme indicated the ways in which parents discussed being emotionally supported and the differences in support needs between husbands and wives. The discussion of these themes addressed the paradoxes that existed and the notion that parents were uncomfortable living with these paradoxes. Implications for professionals who support parents throughout their EHDI program experience were also described, including the provision of information and how that information impacts parents’ need for emotional support. The implication that professionals must provide parents the space to feel their emotions related to grief was also explored.