A phenomenological study of University of Limpopo students following the death of a parent

Abstract

The study sought to explore the sequel of bereavement on parentally bereaved students at the University of Limpopo. The study was qualitative in nature. Ten bereaved students (4 Males & 6 Females) were purposefully sampled and interviewed. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analysed using a reflexive thematic data analysis method. The major themes that emerged from the data were isolated and outlined. The results showed that post-parental bereavement, students experienced and expressed their loss distinctly. Notably, their grief was expressed both emotionally, cognitively, behaviourally, physically and spiritually. In spite of the grief having been experienced and expressed diversely, the findings revealed that factors such as - a) circumstances surrounding the death of a parent, b) religious beliefs and cultural practices, c) meanings attached to the death, and, d) lack of support post-bereavement, all influenced participating students’ grief trajectory. On the one hand, the results highlighted that students relied on diverse strategies (e.g., bereavement rituals, counselling services) which helped in their processing and coping with the death of a parent. In particular, psychological counselling was found to be beneficial, although it was associated with mental health stigma. The study findings therefore suggest that parental bereavement can result in the experience of grief, which is an emotionally painful experience that can be complicated secondary to a myriad of factors. A complicated grief experience could lead to academic underachievement in the student population. This therefore suggests that complicated bereavement needs to be treated as earliest as possible in order to avert its interference with the academic work of affected students. It is recommended further that higher institutions of learning need to invest more efforts to educate students on bereavement and its potential impact on their studies. Additionally, efforts should be directed at addressing the stigma of mental illness on-campus so as to help improve the user friendliness of on campus student psychological counselling services. The study is concluded by, amongst others, recommending that future research needs to look closely into university students’ meaning making process in bereavement.