Grieving experiences of widows and their psychological wellbeing in Kibwezi East Sub County, Makueni County

Abstract

This study sought to examine grieving experiences of widows in Makueni County and how they relate to their psychological well being. The study adopted the embedded mixed method research design specifically adopting descriptive survey and phenomenology. Sampling was done using cluster sampling with a sample size of 340 widows for quantitative data, 8 widows and 5 key informants from the sampled organizations were also interviewed. Data were collected using the Ryff psychological wellbeing scale, a self-developed grievibg experiences questionaire and interview guide. Data were analyed using correlation and univariate analysis. The findings indicated that readjustment of roles was the biggest challenge of most widows in Makueni with personal growth being the dimension of psychological being reported by majority of the widows. The study recommends counseling services for widows from various stakeholders, provision of social support from the government, capacity building of widows, protection by the state, the family and other non-governmental agencies and self-acceptance of the widow to better their socio economic and psychological wellbeing.