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Experiences of newly married black women staying with the extended family in an urban township

M.Cur. / In the black society, a family is the central unit whose unity and cohesiveness should be maintained. A nuclear family is the predominant form in the urban townships and it is marked by a family group of two generations that consists of the married couple and their children. Another form of family that is dominant is the extended family, which consists of three or more generations, staying in the same household. The extended family is seen as the sole provider of care and emotional support for newly married black women. The essence of the extended family lies in the bonds between its members ignoring the independence and needs of the newly married black women. In South Africa when black couples choose to marry they can do so under the common law or customary law. The customary law encourages payment of lobola, after which the bride (newly married black woman) will be handed over to the extended family, that is the husband's family. The newly married black women are expected to live with their husband's family, in order to learn the "newly" adopted culture of the extended family. The teaching of the new culture" is taught to the newly married woman by the mother and sister in-law. However, if the newly married black women do not follow the expected practices from the teaching of the extended family, this can have a negative effect on their body, mind and spirit. These negative effects can be a result of victimization by the extended family. To explore this problem of the newly married black women further, the researcher conducted a study on the experiences of newly married black women who live with the extended family in an urban township. The objectives of the study were to: • explore and describe the experiences of newly married women living with the extended family; and vi describe guidelines developed for advanced psychiatric nurses to facilitate the mental health of newly married black women that live with the extended family in an urban township. This study was undertaken within the framework of the Theory for Health Promotion in Nursing (Rand Afrikaans University: 2000), that has an approach that is Christian-based, and functions in an integrated bio-psycho social manner (body, mind and spirit). A functional reasoning approach based on Botes' model (2000) was followed. A qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual research design was used to answer the research questions. In-depth, semi-structured phenomenological interviews were conducted with newly married black women who met the sample criteria. Steps were taken throughout the research to ensure trustworthiness. To persuade the audience that the findings of this research are worth paying attention to, Guba's model for trustworthiness (Lincoln & Guba, 1989: 289) will be applied. Data analysis was done according to Tesch's (Creswell, 1994: 155) method. The results of this study indicate that newly married black women that stay with the extended family in an urban township, in this study have had various experiences such as: feelings of entrapment by cultural norms; and negative psychological effects evidenced by anger, frustration and hatred. Positive emotions like hope and determination, and the experience of support from outside the extended family were also experienced. Based on these results, guidelines were developed for advanced psychiatric nurses to facilitate the promotion of mental health of newly married women that live with the extended family in an urban township. Conclusions were drawn and recommendations were given concerning psychiatric

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:3457
Date04 September 2012
CreatorsMashele, Ngwamolangacha Madali Benedicta
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis

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