Evaluation of a bereavement training programme for volunteers at a Community Centre

[摘要] The present study investigates a bereavement training programme with a groupof volunteer lay counsellors. In South Africa, the number of orphans resultingfrom an increase in parental deaths from natural causes, such as AIDS and nonnaturalcauses, for example violence, is increasing rapidly. The increasingnumber of bereaved children is creating a demand for professional supportservices that cannot be met by the present number of trained professionals. Toaddress this imbalance, the training of lay counsellors is proposed. It is thusrelevant to train those who are willing to help with the necessary knowledge andskills in a bereavement training programme.The present study involves ten volunteers from a Community Centre. Qualitativeresearch methods are employed to analyse the data that is gained from the preandpost-training responses to the interviews and Case Examples. Contentanalysis is used to elucidate the themes that emerge from the collected data. Theresults of the present study indicate that perceptual and developmental changeshave occurred within the volunteers following the training programme, however, itis evident that further training is necessary because of the limited ability that thevolunteers demonstrate in practically transferring the knowledge to new cases. Interms of this finding it is clear that factors such as language, age, educationallevel and personal experiences of death are important criteria to consider in theselection of volunteers for a bereavement training programme. Furthermore,traditional African perspectives of death, cultural differences and HIV/AIDSawareness need to be incorporated into future bereavement trainingprogrammes. In terms of the outcomes of the study, a positive outcome is therevision of the Bereavement Programme for children, taking cognisance ofcultural sensitiveness, to make it more applicable within the local context. Theresults of the study also highlight the limitations and implications of the presentresearch, which are discussed and recommendations for future research aremade.

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand