Unexpected death, religious coping and conjugal bereavement outcomes in Africa (Togo)

ABSTRACT

This pioneering study in sub-Saharan African context examined the role played by religious strategies (religious coping, religious community support (RCS)) in the conjugal bereavement process and its outcomes depending on the expected or unexpected death. Based on cross-sectional approach, the study targeted Togolese bereaved spouses (N = 162). The mean period of mourning was 112.52 months (SD = 94.72). The results of a hierarchical regression revealed that RCS was positively associated with grief symptoms when the death was expected and, unsurprisingly, the negative religious coping predicted grief symptoms when the death was sudden and unexpected. Religious strategies would play a threefold role: providing refuge and comfort, regulating the bereavement distress and serving resources to give meaning to the loss of the beloved. Theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Un/expected death
• religious coping
• religious community support
• religion
• complicated grief
• conjugal bereavement
• Africa

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 In view of the recruitment procedures used, we encountered difficulties in enrolling Muslim respondents. There are two reasons for this difficulty. First, Muslim widows rarely belong to an association. Second, after a period of 4 months and 10 days, their remarriage would be fast. In Togo, levirate is a practice that is strongly observed in Muslim communities without being linked to Islam.