Lived experiences of widows living in Mzuzu
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Date
2020-09-16
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Publisher
Kamuzu University of Health Sciences
Abstract
Title of study: Lived experiences of widows living in Mzuzu
Type of study: Qualitative Research
Problem statement: The increasing number of women who have lost their husbands globally has elicited
emotive public concerns. It has become a matter of priority for national and international organizations.
There is evidence that there are 250 million widows worldwide. In Malawi, widows are considered to be
one of the vulnerable groups. This could be due to the bad experiences that they go through such as:
property and land grabbing and culturally rituals of sexual cleansing. In Malawi, these women’s
distinctive needs have not been met by society, organizations and health systems. There is dearth of
evidence in Malawi regarding the experiences that widows go through. Therefore, this study seeks to
explore this under researched area with the aim of developing strategies that would address this issue.
Broad objective : To explore the lived experiences of widows in Mzuzu
Specific objectives
Describe perceptions of widows concerning their widowhood
Explain the psycho-social experiences of widows
Identify the support system of widows
Identify challenges that widows face in their lives
Methodology: This study will adopt a qualitative approach in order to get into detail about the
psychosocial issues experienced by widows in Mzuzu. The study will follow a narrative design as a
distinct form of qualitative research which will be conducted in Mzuzu City in the areas of Chibanja,
Zolozolo and Chasefu. Participants in this study will be widows who did not remarry after the death of
their spouses. Data will be elicited from 15 participants using a semi structured interview guide.
Ethical consideration: The approval to conduct this study will be obtained from the College of
Medicine Research Ethics Committee (COMREC). Permission will also be sought from gate keepers of
the community while observing rights of participants.
A standardized procedure for data analysis will be developed by coding the narrative materials into a
meaningful whole. Data analysis will be done manually using the six phases of thematic analysis and
qualitative content analysis (QCA).