Being there: A scoping review on psychosocial challenges faced by adolescents during bereavement in the Southern African Development Community

Abstract

Background information: Bereavement enhances adolescent’s chances of suffering from psychosocial problems globally and adolescents in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are not an exception. Due to the mourning condition, some of the adolescents become susceptible to multiple mental disorders, stigmatization and social rejection leading to maladaptive coping mechanisms such as substance abuse. Purpose: This study aimed to synthesize the existing literature on the psychological challenges faced by adolescents during bereavement in SADC. Methods: We opted for a scoping review due to its ability to rapidly map the existing literature sourced from international databases (JSTOR, and PubMed), local databases (Sabinet African Journal) and performed hand-search using Google Scholar. We made use of operators and techniques such as Boolean operators, truncations and MeSH terms. The inclusion of the study was limited to adolescents aged 10–26 years within SADC, primary studies (qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods) and a 10-year projection of studies conducted from 2013 to 2023 in SADC. Results: The findings of the study revealed that adolescents in SADC experience feelings of hopelessness, low self-esteem, anger, grief overload, suicidal thoughts, shock and confusion as a result of bereavement. They are also battling with poor academic performance and abuse due to being socially stigmatized and rejected. To cope with this ordeal, some of the adolescents’ resort to dropping out of school, social isolation and substance abuse. Conclusions and recommendations: Our research has revealed that bereavement in adolescents is closely linked with psychological challenges. In addition to psychological distress, our research has unveiled profound social challenges faced by bereaved adolescents. Adolescents frequently encounter the risk of abuse within their families and experience financial hardships following the loss of loved ones. Thus, recommends a constructive active plan for offering support services to bereaved adolescents and, the adoption and promotion of bereavement programs within families, communities and social welfare centres to address risk factors of maladaptive coping.