Treating Complicated Grief among Orphaned Children in Kenya: Effectiveness of Complicated Grief Therapy
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Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Open Journal of Social Sciences
Abstract
Complicated Grief (CG) also referred to as complicated bereavement is a clinically
significant condition even though there is limited evidence on its prevalence
and treatment in Kenya and Africa in general. The main aim of this
2019 study was to test the efficacy of a modified Complicated Grief Therapy
(CGT) in treating complicated grief (CG) among orphaned children. A total
of 426 orphaned children aged 10 - 15 years were screened using the Brief
Grief Questionnaire to sample those with elevated grief scores. Of the 263 who
met the criteria, only 241 participants fully participated in the six months
study with 123 and 118 participants in the treatment and the control groups
respectively. The treatment group was subjected to a shortened version of the
CGT (12 weeks) while no treatment was offered to the control group. The
prevalence of grief among orphaned children was 66% and using the Inventory
for Complicated Grief, to determine the clinical levels, a mean grief score of
31.6 (SD = 9.52) was recorded. The reduced version of CGT was effective in
the reduction of complicated grief symptoms t(122) = −15.79, p < 0.001 at a
weekly reduction of 1.29 points. In the case of the control group, the paired
sample test showed a statistically insignificant reduction of CG score, t(117) =
−0.712, p = 0.478. Conclusions: Reducing CGT sessions 12 sessions to make it
shorter and less stringent and using it as group therapy in a school setup did
not interfere with its effect on the treatment of complicated grief among orphaned
children.
Description
Keywords
Complicated Grief, Orphaned Children, Complicated Grief Therapy, Bereaved Children, Parental Death
Citation
Ngesa, M. O., Tuikong, S., & Ongaro, K. (2020). Treating Complicated Grief among Orphaned Children in Kenya: Effectiveness of Complicated Grief Therapy. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 8, 461-478. https://doi.org/10.4236/jss.2020.84034