PhD VIVA VOCE

Qualifications attained:

Ms. Edna Kyaruzi is a PhD (Education) student in the Department of Educational Psychology and Curriculum Studies of the School of Education, University of Dar es Salaam. She holds a Bachelor of Education in Science (B. Ed. Science) and a Masters in Applied Social Psychology (MAASP) both from the University of Dar es Salaam. Currently, she is a PhD candidate with a research title “Traumatic Experiences and Coping Strategies among Orphaned Children in Selected Primary School in Tanzania”. Ms. Edna was employed by the University of Dar es Salaam- DUCE since 2008 and works in the Department of Educational Psychology and Curriculum Studies as an Assistant Lecturer.

Dissertation Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore traumatic experiences and coping strategies among orphaned children in selected primary schools in Tanzania. Specifically, the study sought to assess the prevalence of traumatic experiences among orphaned children and the status of their psychosocial wellbeing. The study further examined the relationship between traumatic experiences and mental health problems and also assessed coping strategies employed in response to traumatic experiences. The study was guided by the transaction theory of stress and coping and informed by a pragmatic paradigm. The mixed methods research approach with concurrent mixed-method design was used. The study involved 463 participants including 419 orphaned children enrolled in primary schools, 12 head teachers and 12 guardian teachers. Purposive sampling was used to select schools, teachers and 20 orphaned children for the interviews while simple random sampling was used to select orphaned pupils. Questionnaire method was used to collect data from pupils while semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from teachers and the 20 purposively selected pupils. Quantitative data were analysed to obtain frequencies of occurrence of traumatic events while a total difficult score of 30.8% was obtained after assessing the psychosocial wellbeing of orphaned children. Thematic analysis was used for the analysis of qualitative data. The study found prevalence of traumatic experiences by physical assault (40%) and psychological aggression by guardians of orphaned children (51%). Moreover, 62% of the children had experienced the death of someone close to them while 12% had experienced being touched in their private parts and 11% had ever been forced to have sex with someone. The study found that orphaned children had emotional and behavioural difficulties at a rate of 30.8%. Findings revealed that mental health problems among orphaned children increased by a value of .47 of threatening life events on a regression modal. The study discovered a range of coping strategies which were emotionally-oriented including praying, crying and forgiving while problem-solving oriented strategies included seeking social support from teachers and community members, stealing and engaging in early sexual relationships especially for school-going girls. The psychological pains inflicted on orphans through various traumatic events including sexual abuse and adopted aggressive behaviours from guardians had negative implications on children’s social and psychological development. Thus, the emotional and behavioural difficulties among orphans were predicted to persist while coping strategies with both positive and negative impacts were revealed. The study concluded that the identified traumatic experiences have developed emotional and behavioural difficulties with which orphaned children struggled to cope while making effort to attend to their school roles. Nevertheless, the coping strategies used were ineffective in some circumstances, thus not reliable for their psychosocial wellbeing. Therefore, the study recommends that research should be done on a large representative sample in Tanzania to assess experiences of trauma, psychosocial wellbeing and coping strategies used by orphaned children residing with their families. Moreover, psychological intervention studies among orphaned children and their guardians should be done to promote their better adaptation to living with adoptive families after the death of one or both parents.