Understanding Complicated Grief in the Face of Traumatic Losses Due to Terrorism: A Mixed-Methods Study in an Internally Displaced People's Camp in Nigeria
[Thesis]
Canales, Andrea Irene Kauffman
Eriksson, Cynthia
Fuller Theological Seminary, School of Psychology
2019
126 p.
Ph.D.
Fuller Theological Seminary, School of Psychology
2019
For more than a decade, communities throughout Nigeria have experienced traumatic and complicated losses at the hands of the radicalized Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram. This mixed-method analysis was conducted in an Internally Displaced People's (IDP) camp in Jos, Nigeria using focus groups and structured interviews. Through this study I sought first to understand the symptoms associated with complicated grief when factoring: 1) the proximity of attachment to the person lost, 2) whether or not there was a clear death outcome, and 3) whether or not participants were prevented from proper traditional burial rites. My second aim of this study was to understand the construct of grieving in the Nigerian IDP context, and the way adaptive grieving was perceived by community members. The quantitative results indicated all types of relational losses (child, spouse, family members, friends) were connected to distinct forms of emotional and physical distress. Furthermore, spousal loss explained a significant portion of the variance of depression symptoms, even after accounting for demographic factors and other traumatic exposures. Losses due to kidnapping, disappearance, and prevention of proper burial led to significantly higher levels of both emotional and physical distress in comparison to those experiencing clear death outcomes and proper burial rites. The qualitative analysis revealed how those who remained connected to communal relationships and activities were perceived as positively adapting to grief and loss. Finally, I offered a preliminary grounded theory model of complicated grief for the IDP camp context in Nigeria.