GENERAL ORIENTATION OF THE STUDY
1.8 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Zimbabwe is still behind regarding critical studies of the religious and spiritual discourse of social work. This gap makes this study important in that it seeks to address some of the issues by providing empirical evidence on the role of ATR and African spirituality in chronic illnesses. This will enable social workers to find ways of incorporating religious and spiritual issues in their practice. This study will, therefore, form the foundation for spirituality and social work research and education in Zimbabwe. Social workers who had taken a course on religion and spirituality were found to have an appreciation of the role of spirituality in social work practice (Heyman, Buchaman, Marlowe & Sealy, 2006).
The Council of Social Workers of Zimbabwe (CSWZ), which acts as a regulatory board for social work practice, and the National Association of Social Workers of Zimbabwe (NASW), which stands as the workers union for social workers, may benefit from the results of this study. Both organisations may benefit from the results of this study as they may decide to strengthen and motivate social workers to understand their clients‘
spirituality. Social workers have often been found to impose their religion and spirituality
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on desperate clients during the helping process. This study, which demonstrates the influence of African traditional religion and African spirituality, may help the CSWZ make it an ethical requirement to respect and strengthen the spiritual resources of a client despite how different they are from those of the social worker or how trivial they may seem.
There are a number of hospice organisations in Zimbabwe which include, among others, The Centre, Island Hospice and the Cancer Society. These organisations deal with terminally ill people or people with life-threatening conditions. Employees of such organisations can get more insight from this study on the role of African traditional religion and spirituality in terminal illnesses. Furthermore, other health professionals such as counsellors and nurses can also benefit from this study. This research project will provide valuable information on the effectiveness of ATR and spirituality as sources of resilience in coping with psychological and social problems among chronically ill patients. Social workers often work with other helping professionals in multidisciplinary contexts in health care delivery systems. These professionals also need to understand the role that religion and spirituality can play in the client‘s ability to cope with physical and mental illness (Heyman et al, 2006).
The Ministry of Health and Child Care stands to benefit immensely from the results of this study. Though the Government of Zimbabwe recognises the role of traditional medicine in its health delivery system, the role of African traditional beliefs and practices in health and healing is not well acknowledged by Western trained doctors. Few of such doctors refer their patients to traditional medical practitioners. By demonstrating the
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influence of ATR in understanding chronic diseases, the government may decide to professionalise traditional healing practices.
As a study area, the influence of African traditional religion from a social work perspective is virtually untapped because very little academic work has been carried out on it. To date, there is no book or journal article written by social work academics and researchers in Zimbabwe which interrogates the role of African traditional religion among the Shona people of Zimbabwe. This study, therefore, seeks to offer a social work dimension on the on-going debates on African traditional religion and illness. The results of this study will be significant in this way:
The place of religion and spirituality in social work practice in Zimbabwe will be identified. To achieve this goal, this study analyses the role of religion in social work practice. It also traces the religious and spiritual roots of social work. The assumption is that religion and spirituality are resources lying idle due to neglect by social workers in Zimbabwe. Shona people are a very religious and African traditional religion, consciously or unconsciously, plays a central role in their lives. The study has shown how African traditional religion is embedded in the everyday lives of the Shona people.
The argument is that even though African traditional religion and especially Shona traditional religion has faced attack from Christian missionaries, it is still alive to this day.
Ministers of religion will benefit from this study. These are the people who mostly influence the spirituality of people with illness. They pray for them and comfort them in times of trouble. Ministers of religion will work from an informed perspective after this study. Though spirituality is distinct from religion, the two seem to be two sides of the same coin in the sense that they are intertwined and commonly difficult to tell apart.
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Ministers of religion can also influence the way religious organisations and their congregants treat people with terminal illnesses such as AIDS. Ministers of religion‘s attitudes toward PLWHA are very crucial and they need to understand the effects of their actions on such people. If ministers of religion understand the spirituality of PLWHA, then they may help strengthen the spiritual resources of such people.
1.9 ORGANISATION OF THE THESIS