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THE GLOBAL EXPERIENCE OF LOSS
Death is a drastic event in one’s life (Vess & Arndt, 2008), and brings a need to repair the wounds caused by loss. Given that this is an emotionally devastating event, as early as 1967, Holmes and Rahe, in their Social Readjustment Rating Scale, ranked the death of a spouse on the life event scale as the most stressful of all possible losses, a sentiment that was later confirmed by Scannell-Desch (2003) and Silverman (2004). Gow (1999) and Van Praagh’s (2000) view of grie as being composed of a variety of physical, emotional and spiritual sensations could explain spousal death as the most stressful loss.
As bereavement is the emotional state that one experiences during loss (Ong, Bergeman & Bisconti, 2004; Zautra, Berkhof & Nicolson, 2002), for people to move on they need to let go of those they love who are no longer with them.
Through the bereavement process they gradually accept the loss, allowing the dead to be gone from their lives. At the end of a functional bereavement process, sadness still exists, but is tempered by happy memories of the deceased, which remain.
One of the many factors that contribute to the devastating impact of the loss of a loved one is that a considerable period of time passes before one is once again able to live without being preoccupied with what has happened. Carr, House, Wortman, Nesse and Kessler (2001) state that grief is an intense, preoccupying, depleting and multifaceted experience that affects one’s emotions, body and life. This is due to the many facets of life involved in the loss of a spouse.
The grief experience affects people as a mixture of raw and conflicting feelings, and is an exhausting physical experience. It is the experience that overwhelms the ordinary human adaptations to life (Higgins & Glacken, 2009). Daily life is affected at all levels, for example, getting ready for bed, waking up in the morning, discussing the children, planning the future, and other related issues. The emotional pain involves missing the deceased, sleeping in a half-empty bed, craving the scent of the deceased’s body, longing for his embrace, and so on. The widow might also wonder what life could have been like had her husband survived. Additional emotions include a sense of insecurity, fears of abandonment, and enormous vulnerability. Life is thrown out of balance, forcing adjustments with uncertainties. The bereaved are often confronted with the possibility of their own death – something most people would rather not think about (Carr et al., 2001).
CHAPTER 1:INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY
1.1 INTRODUCTION
1.2 THE GLOBAL EXPERIENCE OF LOSS
1.3 BACKGROUND TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BLACK URBAN SOUTH AFRICAN TRANSITIONAL SOCIETY
1.3.1 Black urban South African communities before 1994
1.3.2 Black urban South African communities after 1994
1.4 JUSTIFICATION FOR THE STUDY
1.4.1 The rationale for focusing on women
1.4.2 The rationale for focusing on terminal illnesses
1.5 THE AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1.6 CONTRIBUTION OF THE RESEARCH TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF KNOWLEDGE
1.7 OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
1.8 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
2.1 INTRODUCTION .
2.2 BEREAVEMENT
2.2.1 Definition of bereavement
2.2.2 Conceptualisation of bereavement
2.2.2.6 Grief
2.2.3 Diagnostic issues of bereavement
2.2.4 Cultural perspectives on bereavement and related concepts
2.3 THEORETICAL APPROACHES FOR STUDYING BEREAVEMENT
2.3.1 Cognitive theory
2.3.2 Coping strategies
2.3.3 Attachment theory
2.3.4 Schachter and Singer’s two-factor theory of emotions
2.3.5 Systems theory
2.3.6 A unified integration of bereavement concepts and theories .
2.3.6.1 Integrated phases of bereavement (functional and dysfunctional) .
2.4 CONCLUSION .
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 INTRODUCTION
3.2 DESIGN .
3.2.1 Qualitative research .
3.2.2 Advantages and disadvantages of using qualitative research
3.3 RECONCILIATION OF THE QUALITATIVE DESIGN WITH A COGNITIVE
PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
3.4 PARTICIPANTS IN THIS STUDY .
3.4.1 Access to potential Participants .
3.4.2 Sampling method .
3.5 METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION
3.5.1 The qualitative interview and its value .
3.5.2 Unstructured interview .
3.5.3 Semi-structured interview
3.5.4 Interview guides .
3.5.6 Participant observations
3.6 ETHICAL ASPECTS
3.7 DATA ANALYSIS
3.7.1 Data management
3.7.2 Data reduction
3.7.3 Data display
3.7.4 Drawing conclusions and verification
3.8 CONSISTENCY AND INTEGRITY OF THE STUDY
3.8.1 Trustworthiness
3.9 REFLEXIVITY
3.10 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 4: PRESENTATION OF THE FINDINGS .
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 DESCRIPTION OF PARTICIPANTS
4.3 THEMES .
4.4 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION
5.1 INTRODUCTION
5.2 DISCUSSION OF THE PARTICIPANTS’ BACKGROUND HISTORY
5.3 DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS
5.4 DEVELOPMENT OF A SYSTEMATIC BEREAVEMENT MODEL
5.5 THE THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL RATIONALISATION OF THE
RESEARCH QUESTION
5.6 CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE PRESENT STUDY
5.7 RECOMMENDATIONS PERTAINING TO THIS STUDY AND FUTURE
RESEARCH
REFERENCE LIST
APPENDIX A .
TRANSCRIPTS OF INTERVIEWS
