Abstract

The present study was conducted to find out the effect of widowhood rites on the psychosocial well- being of widows in Nadowli District of the Upper West Region (Ghana). The study generally examined three aspects of the well-being of the widows viz psychological, economic and social of widows mainly as a result of the ordeal they go through during widowhood rites. The psychosocial Well-being Scale (PSWS) was used to collect data on eighty widows from Nadowli District. The statistical analysis was done mostly by the t tests. Findings indicated that the younger widows experience higher levels of psychological effects of widowhood than the older widows. In addition, results showed that younger widows tend to experience higher economic setbacks. However, results indicated that there was no difference in social effect widowhood between younger and older widows. Based on this it is recommended that the District Assemblies, Traditional Authorities, NGOs and Gender Based Organizations should come together and abolished some of the widowhood rites that tend to have negative psychosocial well-being on the widows in the Nadowli District.