Family Ties and Mental Health of Orphans in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). Does the Gender of the Dead Parent Matter?

Abstract

In sub-Saharan Africa, families represent a type of social safety net for individuals in difficulty, thus making up for the absence of social programs and public institutions for orphaned youth. Yet the past decades have witnessed an erosion of the mechanisms of solidarity and health inequalities between orphans and non-orphaned children. This study aims to understand the family dynamics that lead to mental disorders among orphans in Burkina Faso, a landlocked and resource-limited country. A unique set of key informant interviews with 43 orphans and in-depth direct observations in informal neighborhoods were conducted from September to December 2012, transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis techniques (Corbin and Strauss 2014). The findings reveal the assumptions concerning children’s belonging to their father’s extended family are misplaced and shed light on the unintended effects of intra-family divisions, mistrust, and harsh economic conditions of widows on the mental health of orphans, described as uprooted.