The Grieving Experiences without Funeral Rituals during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Funeral rituals are tradionally held to mourn death, however due to the Covid-19 community guidelines funeral rituals are no longer performed by the bereaved individuals. Acknowledging the loss was part of the grieving the process and experience, hence the funeral rituals help the bereaved to acknowledge the loss of their loved one. Thus, the main aim of the study was to explore the grieving experiences of individuals who have lost their loved one during the Covid-19 pandemic specifically to; examine impact of the absence of funeral rituals and practices due to the Covid-19 restrictions during the pandemic the grieving process and experiences of bereaved families according to the stages of grief. The study was qualitative research that utilized phenomenological approach to attain the objectives. The study involve six participants which are chosen by means of purposive sampling technique.The participants undergone one-on-one interview with the researcher, open-ended questionnaires are used to inquire for data and was interpreted by means of Interpretative Phenomenological Approach . The interview was held via video conferencing platforms knows as Zoom. After the interview it was found out that due to the absence of funeral traditions the bereaved individuals faced multiple struggles with negative emotional state, difficulties in expression of grief, isolated feeling, difficulty in coping with loss, and satisfaction. In terms of the grieving process of individuals during this pandemic in patterned with Bowbly-Parke's Foud Phases of Grief, it was found out that during the numbness phase of grief bereaved commonly experience disbelief and shock; on the yearning phase the bereaved commonly faced with the feeling of guilt, suppression of emotion, searching for meaning, and helplessness; on the despair and disorganization phase the bereaved experiences losing purpose, attention, productivity, and disengagement enjoyable activites; lastly during the acceptance phase the bereaved commonly accept the loss due to the perception that death was part of the life cycle, necessity peace, realness of death, and its importance on moving forward.