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When Time Doesn’t Heal: Childhood Traumatic Grief among orphans in rural Zambia

When Time Doesn’t Heal: Childhood Traumatic Grief among orphans in rural Zambia. Lisa F Langhaug, PhD Adrian Gschwend, Katharin Wespi, Pia Amman. International AIDS Conference, Washington DC, July 2012. introduction.

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When Time Doesn’t Heal: Childhood Traumatic Grief among orphans in rural Zambia

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  1. When Time Doesn’t Heal: Childhood Traumatic Grief among orphans in rural Zambia Lisa F Langhaug, PhD Adrian Gschwend, Katharin Wespi, Pia Amman International AIDS Conference, Washington DC, July 2012

  2. introduction • Across sub-Saharan Africa, the HIV epidemic has orphaned more than 15 million children • Children’s experience of their loss remains understudied in sub-Saharan Africa • This is particularly true of childhood traumatic grief which has been shown to be psychologically & medically debilitating. • Childhood traumatic grief was measured in a longitudinal study of orphans and vulnerable children in rural Zambia

  3. Methods Trained gender-matched interviewer-administered paper questionnaires 722 respondents completed R5 (12-20 yrs) 376 were orphans (46% female, 44.1% orphaned by AIDS) 346 had lost parent(s) 1 or more years before 310 completed all questions in this analysis

  4. Measures & analysis Childhood Traumatic Grief • Based on Expanded Grief Inventory (Layne, 2001) • Asked to report on feelings surrounding parental loss in the past 4 weeks • Likert scale: Never (0), Rarely (1), Sometimes (2), Often (3), and Always (4) • Grief was classified as traumatic if respondent had a mean score of 2. Other scales focused on • Caregiver attachment, Household distribution of effects, daily stress, peer victimization, and Child Depression Inventory • Factors surrounding parental death All scales were translated and culturally adapted Multiple hierarchical regression was used to examine predictors of Childhood Traumatic Grief

  5. results • Most children had lost their parents some time ago • Mean number of years since their loss was 7.6 years (SD=4.1 years) • One-third (30.2%) of orphans showed levels of childhood traumatic grief • Double orphans reported significantly higher levels of grief than single orphans (r=0.12) • CTG is associated with child depression, suicidal thoughts,& somatic complaints

  6. Predictors of childhood traumatic grief 22% of grief is explained by these variables

  7. conclusion • High levels of enduring grief in children that have lost their parents which leads to debilitating effects. • Critical role for community-based initiatives that reach the household to play in alleviating this grief • Household mobility after a parent’s death • Within household discrimination • Daily stressors • Victimization and bullying

  8. Acknowledgements • Swiss Academy for development • Adrian Gschwend, Katharin Wespi, Pia Ammann • Childfund-zambia • David Mwyia • REPSSI • Kelvin Ngoma, Sebastian Chikuta, Thank You

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