When the Challenges of Widowhood Extend to Childcare: Essential Considerations for Social Work Practice

Abstract

Unless widows recount their painful experiences of caring for their children, their day-to day lived challenges of childcare may be misunderstood if not totally missed by social workers in practice. This article discusses the widow’s painful experiences of caring for their children in Binga District in Zimbabwe and the critical aspects needed for consideration by social workers in practice. A qualitative research approach using a phenomenological research design was adopted to capture the lived struggles of the widows in caring for their children. Using purposive sampling, twenty-four widows participated in the in-depth interviews, with ten widows participating in individual interviews whilst fourteen widows participated in two separate focus group interviews with seven widows in each group. Data were analysed thematically with predetermined and emerging themes critically discussed and compared with existing literature. The findings showed that due to dwindling resource bases, widows are bound to fail to meet the physiological, psychosocial, economic and educational needs of their children. The article recommends deliberate and systematic social work considerations in efforts to intervene and avert the circumstances of the widows that have a negative impact on childcare.