Nurses' experiences of the ritual of fetching the spirit of the deceased from a public hospital in Mpumalanga, South Africa
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Authors
Jiyane, P.M.
Phiri, S.S.
Peu, M.D.
Issue Date
2012
Type
Article
Language
en
Keywords
Ancestral rituals , Cultural healthcare experiences , Ritual of fetching the spirit of the deceased
Alternative Title
Abstract
The aim of this study was to explore and describe nurses’ experiences regarding the ritual of
fetching the spirit of the deceased from a public hospital in the Thembisile area of Mpumalanga
province in South Africa. A qualitative, explorative, descriptive study was conducted, using unstructured
interviews to collect data.
Saturation was achieved when no more new themes were elicited from participants, and the
sample size was determined. One major question used throughout the interviews was: ‘What
were your experiences regarding the ritual of fetching the spirit of the deceased from the hospital?’
The responses were captured on an audio recorder and then transcribed verbatim. Strategies
used to ensure trustworthiness included: credibility, transferability and dependability. Data analysis
was done according to Tesch’s method as indicated in Creswell (2003:192). The researchers
and an independent qualitative data analyst agreed about the categories, sub-categories and
themes. The identified major categories included the process of fetching the spirit, motivation
for the ritual, emotions and inherent problems.
While most nurses respected family members’ rights to perform the ritual of fetching the spirit
of the deceased from the place of death, namely the hospital, they also indicated that the rights
of other patients had to be respected. It was recommended that this hospital should formulate policies about the performance of this ritual so that individual nurses need not make their own
decisions when faced with such requests.
Description
Citation
Jiyane, P.M.; Phiri, S.S.; Peu, M.D. (2012) Nurses' experiences of the ritual of fetching the spirit of the deceased from a public hospital in Mpumalanga, South Africa. Africa Journal of Nursing and Midwifery 14(1) pp.116-129
Publisher
Unisa
License
© 2012 AJNM
Journal
Volume
Issue
PubMed ID
DOI
ISSN
16825055