Methods and Roles for Social Work Practice with Widows in Rural Zimbabwe: A Literature Review

Social Work literature is needed on the methods and roles of social work interventions for the psychosocial plight of widows. Currently, literature, methods and intervention frameworks to guide social work practitioners in stimulating relevant interventions are overtly and vehemently lacking. The paper thematically reviews relevant literature that breaks the status quo by discussing methods and roles that social workers can play in addressing the overlooked and marginalised psychosocial problems of widows with special focus on poorly resourced rural communities such as Binga District in Zimbabwe. The literature reviewed presents that social work practice with widows in rural and less resourced areas is possible but lack documented guidelines for social work practitioners to use like many other interventions with various clientele systems. Literature guiding social work interventions with widows is profoundly needed yet vehemently lacking. This paper’s position is that the roles and methods this paper presents provides insights that are useful and can be tested in rural and less resourced settings for the challenged widows.

Keywords: Widows, interventions, Social Work, roles, methods, rural areas