Bereavement care support in a traditionalist South African community setting

Abstract

The present study investigated the bereavement care support as experienced by 14 Northern Sotho (n = 14, males = 50%; mean age = 59 years, SD = 13.7 years) community members. The study adopted the descriptive phenomenological approach. Data on participants’ lived experiences, related to the use of traditional herbs for bereavement care, were collected by employing semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed using Hycner’s adapted phenomenological data explicitation method. The participants reported use of traditional herbs in the management of the pain of grief and bereavement alongside other care support expediencies. One particular herb’s psychological function is to ease the pain of grief by causing the affected individual to forget the painful memories associated with the deceased.

Keywords:

• bereavement care
• bereavement rituals
• bolebatša
• Lannea Schweinfurthi
• Lippia javanica
• traditional medicine
• traditional herbs