Student Number : 0204770E -
MEd research report -
School of Education -
Faculty of Humanities / The present study investigates a bereavement training programme with a group
of volunteer lay counsellors. In South Africa, the number of orphans resulting
from an increase in parental deaths from natural causes, such as AIDS and nonnatural
causes, for example violence, is increasing rapidly. The increasing
number of bereaved children is creating a demand for professional support
services that cannot be met by the present number of trained professionals. To
address this imbalance, the training of lay counsellors is proposed. It is thus
relevant to train those who are willing to help with the necessary knowledge and
skills in a bereavement training programme.
The present study involves ten volunteers from a Community Centre. Qualitative
research methods are employed to analyse the data that is gained from the preand
post-training responses to the interviews and Case Examples. Content
analysis is used to elucidate the themes that emerge from the collected data. The
results of the present study indicate that perceptual and developmental changes
have occurred within the volunteers following the training programme, however, it
is evident that further training is necessary because of the limited ability that the
volunteers demonstrate in practically transferring the knowledge to new cases. In
terms of this finding it is clear that factors such as language, age, educational
level and personal experiences of death are important criteria to consider in the
selection of volunteers for a bereavement training programme. Furthermore,
traditional African perspectives of death, cultural differences and HIV/AIDS
awareness need to be incorporated into future bereavement training
programmes. In terms of the outcomes of the study, a positive outcome is the
revision of the Bereavement Programme for children, taking cognisance of
cultural sensitiveness, to make it more applicable within the local context. The
results of the study also highlight the limitations and implications of the present
research, which are discussed and recommendations for future research are
made.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/1808 |
| Date | 16 November 2006 |
| Creators | Russell, Erica Lee |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 223412 bytes, 87794 bytes, 143284 bytes, 194960 bytes, 121427 bytes, 162571 bytes, 93421 bytes, 51547 bytes, 73187 bytes, 48371 bytes, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf |
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