Poonam Dhaka and Leandré Kurz
University of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia
Corpse handlers who work in mortuaries are a distinct population prone to developing
psychological challenges. They continually work with lifeless human bodies, often
mutilated by gruesome injuries and not excluding the remains of loved ones or close
acquaintances. The primary aim of the study was to explore the lived experiences of
corpse handlers in order to identify their psychological stressors and coping strategies. As
part of this qualitative study, a self-designed interview guide was used for data collection
with a sample of nine mortuary employees who were selected from a population of
fourty-six, including; forensic medical officers, mortuary work hands, mortuary assistants
and police officers (forensic pathology technicians). Interpretative Phenomenological
Analysis (IPA) was adopted to explore the experiences of corpse handlers as lived by
them. From the reports of corpse handlers, several stressor and coping themes were
derived. Although specific to their line of work, these themes resonated with psychological
symptoms, psychopathology and coping interventions reported within literature on
the professional practice of psychology. The results from this study can be useful for
advancing the development of formalised coping and welfare promotion interventions
for this population within the Namibian context.