Abstract
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.