Article Sidebar
Published:
Mar 11, 2008Keywords:
Article Details
The author(s) retain copyright on work published by AOSIS unless specified otherwise.
Licensing and publication rights
Author(s) of work published by AOSIS are required to grant AOSIS the unlimited rights to publish the definitive work in any format, language and medium, for any lawful purpose. AOSIS requires journal authors to publish their work in open access under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.
The authors retain the non-exclusive right to do anything they wish with the published article(s), provided attribution is given to the applicable journal with details of the original publication, as set out in the official citation of the article published in the journal. The retained right specifically includes the right to post the article on the authors’ or their institution’s websites or in institutional repositories.
Previously published work may have been published under a different licence. We advise the community that if they would like to reuse the work to consult the applicable licence at article level.
Note: If you need to comply with your funding body policy, you can apply for the CC BY license after your manuscript is accepted for publication.
Main Article Content
The development in the understanding of the concept of death among black South African learners from the Eastern Cape, South Africa
Abstract
Thirty-one learners aged 6-16 were selected using purposive sampling, with the aim of investigating their understanding of death. Data were collected using drawings andsemi-structured tape-recorded interviews from a modified version of the Smilansky Death Questionnaire. Drawings were analysedfollowing Marton\'sphenomenographicmethod.
Interview transcripts were analysed using pattern coding. Specific responses regarding the components of death were analysed using Smilansky\'s scoring method. Nine descriptive categories were gathered from the drawings: personification, colours, physical features, gender, age, method of death, position of the dead, funeralisation, life symbols. Drawings reflected more similarities than differences between age groups. The 6-8 year-olds hada better understanding of human death than of animal death, whereas the oldergroups were more advancedin conceptualising animal death. This finding demonstrates the influence of culturalpractices. The conceptualisation of old age developed before the other components of death, followed by inevitability, irreversibility, finality, and causality respectively.
Gender differences were noted in the explanations of causes of death. Conclusions demonstrate that the understanding of death is affected by age, cognition, and familial and cultural factors depending on the context within which such development takes place. Future research should consider context when examining children\'s conceptions of death.
Keywords: death-concept; neo-Piagetian; children; Africa; culture
Health SA Gesondheid Vol. 9 (4) 2004: pp. 3-14
