- Title
- Suicide bereavement among families: exploring experiences, reactions and postvention among families in Ghana
- Creator
- Peprah, Jennifer
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2023
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- The impact of suicide bereavement can be far reaching for people and communities at large. Literature shows that five immediate family members and up to a total of 135 individuals can be affected by the suicide of an individual. One of the important factors highlighted in the literature is the unique contribution of culture in the whole experience of suicide bereavement. The act of suicide holds different meanings in different cultures and countries due to, for example, the perceptions of mental illness, religious beliefs, and cultural norms around seeking help and support. Suicide research in Africa lags behind that in other countries and, despite recent developments, there is a huge gap in experiences, reactions and postvention following suicide bereavement, particularly in Ghana. This thesis aims to present a coherent body of research that investigated the experiences, reactions and postvention reactions and activities following suicide bereavement in Ghana. It attempts to draw parallels between Ghana and minority groups (migrant, rural, refugee, Indigenous) in Australia in terms of services provided and uptake and what Ghana can learn from these communities. The research builds on work conducted by the researcher and colleagues towards the development of culture specific postvention strategies and guidelines in the Ghanaian context. The thesis includes a series of qualitative studies and an extensive literature review, presented as separate chapters as summarised below; A study of the experiences and reactions following suicide bereavement in Ghana, which presents results from interviews with 18 individuals from families bereaved by suicide. The study uses Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to investigate the experiences of these family members.; A study of community reactions to suicide in Ghana which presents an IPA-based exploration of the reactions of 9 community members to suicide bereavement. A study of stakeholder experiences and perceptions of postvention in Ghana, which also uses IPA to present results from interviews with 10 stakeholders who work with people bereaved by suicide in Ghana. This study explores the services available for people who have lost loved ones through suicide, the use of the services and the way forward.; A narrative review of suicide postvention and uptake of services in minority groups in Australia and what Ghana can learn from this response. The findings from the family study showed that in addition to pre-burial experiences such as shock and numbness which are traumatic for the bereaved, a major component of the bereavement experience in Ghana is the performance of rituals. The rituals are placatory and perfunctory in nature and can be a major source of conflict for survivors. The study further showed that those bereaved perceived that others condemned the deceased and stigmatised the act of suicide even though people were saddened and grieved the loss. While people were empathic and showed sympathy towards those bereaved, they silenced the act of suicide itself. In a few instances, the bereaved reported feeling stigmatised following the loss. The study also found gender differences in the processing of the bereavement experience, with women feeling more permitted to grieve but reporting more guilt and regret. Men on the contrary, found more practical ways to deal with the loss and express disappointment for the loss. Finally, most of the participants used Afri-cultural coping through belief in a higher power and engaging in religious rituals. From the community study it was observed that community members perceived suicide as an indelible calamity and attributed suicide to a diabolical cause taking the agency from the deceased but also associating suicide with bad behaviour. These views are contradictory and can be a source of conflict for survivors. The study also found that community members saw suicide as an individual act that had consequences for not just the family of the deceased but the entire community. Again, the study found that there was fear of contagion when there was a suicide in the community, and suicide could cause tension between community members. The postvention study showed that there are no targeted postvention services for those bereaved by suicide in Ghana. The findings also showed that there is lack of government focus. Availability of services, cost involved and lack of knowledge as well as stigma and superstitions associated with suicide were found to be the major factors that prevent people from using services when bereaved by suicide. The study highlights education as an important way forward for service provision. The review of literature on postvention services for minority groups in Australia found postvention services such as StandBy Postvention Program and the Kimberly Postvention Program for those bereaved by suicide. The findings showed that one of the elements associated with the effectiveness of programs in these communities is the involvement of communities in program development as well as the availability of a national policy on suicide prevention. The review identified some intervention approaches and considerations which could be applied in Ghana, including interventions that target communities and the use of gatekeepers for postvention programs.
- Subject
- suicide; bereavement; experiences; community reactions
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1477987
- Identifier
- uon:50074
- Rights
- Copyright 2023 Jennifer Peprah
- Language
- eng
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