Social Support and Recovery from Bereavement: A Study among Bereaved Persons in Oyo and Oke-Ogun Areas of Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Bereavement engenders different reactions. Some individuals are able toreturn to normal fairly soon, while, others struggle for a long time. During this period of struggle, the bereaved persons need the presence of supporting relationships which will help them to cope successfully with bereavement crisis and recover quickly from it. The study, therefore, investigated how social support helps in reducing symptoms of emotional feelings associated with bereavement and how it enhances recovery from bereavement. The study was carried out among 250 bereaved persons using the descriptive survey research design of the expost-facto type. The instruments used for the study are Social Support Assessment Questionnaire, Emotional Feelings Assessment Questionnaire, and Recovery Assessment Questionnaire. Two hypotheses were tested in the study, using analysis of variance. The study established that social support had a significant impact on symptoms of emotional feelings associated with bereavement (F = 9.82, df = 1/198, P < .05), and also had a significant impact on recovery from bereavement (F = 5.94, df = 1/198, P <.05). Based on the above findings it was recommended that, the bereaved persons should ask for help, get the loss off their chest,and engage in some activities that can divert their mind from their loss.