ABSTRACT

Widowhood is the state of mourning the loss of one’s husband or wife through death. The stress of this phenomenon is as real as those of loneliness and divorce. Widowhood is thus seen as a life event with wide range of consequences. For instance, widowhood is known to be responsible for the poor health status of widows and widowers, with minimal long-term consequences. Widowhood is also associated with intense grief and anger expression, especially among more widows than the divorced (when) compared. This is possibly because of deprivation following loss of spousal intimacy through death. It can thus be concluded that widowhood by implication is a stressful life event demanding practicable support systems. The study was therefore undertaken to find out the problems associated with widowhood.

This researcher employed the descriptive survey method design. The population consisted of widows in Ilorin metropolis, Kwara State. The sample consisted of 200 widows randomly selected across Ilorin metropolis. Five research questions were formulated and four hypotheses were generated respectively to guide the study. Data were collected using a research deigned instrument questionnaire named “Problems Associated with Widowhood Questionnaire” (PAWQ). It consists of two sections: Section A deals with the demographic data while Section B contains items on the problems associated with widowhood. Content validity of the instrument was established by administering it twice after an interval of three weeks to 20 widows who were not part of the sample. Data analysis was done using percentage, means, t-test and Analysis of Variance, (ANOVA). All hypotheses were tested at 0.05 alpha level.

Of all the variables, the findings showed that there was no significant difference in the perception of widows based on age, gender, educational qualification and religion. This signifies that all the hypotheses were accepted.

Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that massive and intensive campaign should be mounted nation-wide to sanitize people on the need to stop all forms of abuse associated with widowhood; that Nigerian Senators and National Assembly members should legislate against all oppressive, barbaric or dehumanizing mourning rites and widowhood customs that tend to heighten widowhood stress and hamper adjustment; rehabilitation counselling to be provided should emphasize the affiliation of widows to credible support groups like multipurpose co-operative societies, religious organizations like Federation of Muslim Women in Nigeria (FOMWAN), Widows Organization International and a host of others where they could interact meaningfully for optimal integration.