Browsing by Author "Mburugu, Beatrice"

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Burn -Out as a Psychological Effect of Widowhood in Meru County, Kenya: Comparative Study of Widows and Widowers
(Journal of Education and Practice, 2018) Mburugu, Beatrice
Widowhood is a state of losing a spouse through death and has been on the increase in Kenya and all over the world. A spouse’s death is traumatic and affect the widowed persons’ psychological well-being, as they go through the various stages of bereavement. They may become withdrawn, less motivated, become frustrated and isolated which may affect their mental and physical wellbeing when burn-out sets in. There may be adverse effects of widowhood that are psychological since the widowed persons may rate themselves low, have disturbing memories and fatigue after the death of the spouse whom they shared life with. In Meru community, no research has been done on the psychological effects of widowhood yet widowhood is traumatic and a common phenomenon in the community. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the psychological effects of burn-out by comparing widowed men and women in Meru County Kenya. A literature gap exists in Kenya on burn-out of widowed men and women thus motivating the author to come up with such a study. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine burn-out as a psychological effect of widowhood by comparing widowed men and women in Meru County Kenya. Ex post facto’s causal-comparative research design was considered appropriate for the study because of comparison of groups. A sample of 384 widowed persons (192 widows and 192 widowers) in four Districts that were purposively selected making a total of 384 respondents. Data was collected by use of questionnaires which were administered to widowed persons and two Focus Group Discussions for widowed persons were held in each of the four selected Districts; one for the widowers and another for widows. Data analysis was done by use of descriptive and inferential statistics. Inferential statistics included t-test which was used to establish whether differences in burn-out as a psychological effect existed between widowed men and women. Descriptive statistics that included frequencies, means and percentages were also used. The findings revealed variations in the widowed persons’ psychological effect of widowhood where widows showed high levels of burn-out than widowers. From the findings, it is evident that absence of either of the spouse negatively affects the mental and physical wellbeing of the living spouse especially widows. Counselling programmes of widowed persons in the country are needed to assist and empower them especially widows who are not allowed to remarry. It is therefore recommended that the Ministry of gender, religious organisations, service providers and other stakeholders should use such programmes to address psychological needs of widowed persons. Finally, the findings may assist the widowed men and women to cope better psychologically with their state of widowhood which is traumatizing as they attach meaning in life and bring up their families single handedly.
HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES REVITALIZATION INNOVATIONS LOSS AND GRIEF COUNSELLING AS A COPING MECHANISM OF WIDOWHOOD: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF WIDOWERS AND WIDOWS IN MERU COUNTY KENYA
(CHUKA UNIVERSITY, 2021) Mburugu, Beatrice
Widowhood has been on increase globally and Kenya as nation is not exceptional. The state of widowhood globally has been made worse during this period of Corona Virus Disease which started in Wuhan in China in December 2019 (WHO, 2019). Losing a spouse through death is quite emotive and may affect the bereaved persons’ psychosocial wellbeing as well as coping mechanism. In Meru community of Kenya, few researches have been done on counselling as a coping mechanism of widowhood. The study’s main purpose was to determine how loss and grief counselling is used as a coping mechanism by comparing widowers and widows in Meru County Kenya. A descriptive survey was employed in the study where ex post facto’s causal-comparative research design was appropriately used. A total population of 80,332 widowed persons in Meru County was targeted. For comparison purposes, a total sample size of 384 respondents was used; half from each gender. Questionnaires and Focus Group Discussions were used to collect data from respondents based on gender. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were employed. Widows sought for loss and grief counselling more at 61% than widowers at 47 % and from FGDs more than 70% and less than 20% respectively. From t-test results there was a statistically significant difference which favored widows than widowers in seeking for counselling services. In conclusion, the study findings may assist the widows and widowers to seek timely loss and grief counselling services as a positive coping mechanism. Keywords: Widowhood, loss and grief counselling, coping mechanism, psychosocial wellbeing, widow/ widowers