Widow's Grief: The Impact of Age and Mode of Death

Ball, Justine F.

doi:10.2190/weef-n0hd-0cq5-18ty

Cited by 140 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…This study went some way towards quantifying psychological distress in the face of a threatened loss, and the results tend to support the concept of anticipatory grief. Ball (1977) related grief reactions to the duration of terminal illness in young, middle-aged and elderly patients. She concluded that 'anticipatory grief is a mitigating influence on postmortem grief'.…”

Section: Anticipatory Griefmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is there a desolation effect after dementia? A comparative study of mortality rates in spouses of dementia patients following admission and bereavement

Ryan¹

1992

Int J Geriat Psychiatry

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SUMMARYMortality rates following patient admission and patient death were measured in the surviving spouses of a sample of dementia patients admitted to a psychogeriatric unit between 1971 and 1986. The vital status of 85% of spouses was confirmed, and the ratio of observed to expected deaths (SMR) was calculated using regional and national mortality statistics.Spouse mortality following first admission to hospital was significantly lower than expected (p < 0.006), and spouse deaths following bereavement were significantly fewer than expected (p < 0.026). When male and female spouse mortality rates were compared, no significant differences were found, but there was a trend towards lower mortality in female spouses.The results give no support to the theory that hospital admission often follows a breakdown in the health of a caring spouse. Previous studies have shown an increase in mortality following conjugal bereavement, but the spouses of dementia patients were relative survivors and outlived their married and widowed counterparts in the general population. The possible relationships between dementia, anticipatory grief, and the impact of bereavement on the health of the surviving spouse are discussed.KEY woms-Dementia, spouse, bereavement, mortality.The historical observation of high mortality rates in the widowed (Durkheim, 1951; OPCS, 1971) has stimulated research into mortality and morbidity following bereavement. MORTALITY AFTER BEREAVEMENTMortality rates in the bereaved are higher than those in the married. Evidence of a 'mortality effect' during the initial 12 months following bereavement is stronger for widowers than for widows. Young et al.( 1 963) found a 40% increase in mortality during the initial six months of bereavement in a group of 4486 widowers aged 55 years and over. Parkes (Parkes et al., 1969) was able to explain the rise in mortality by an increase in cardiovascular deaths which was confined to the six months following bereavement. Rees and Lutkins (1967) confirmed Young's observations in a Welsh rural population and presented evidence of higher mortality rates following bereavement proportional to the nearness of the blood relationship. Helsing and Szklo (1981) were not able to show an increase in the female mortality rate following bereavement, although they did find evidence of significantly greater mortality after bereavement in widowed males. Clayton (1974) did not find evidence of higher mortality rates in a controlled 12-month follow-up study of widows and widowers, but the numbers in this study were insufficient for adequate postbereavement analysis of mortality rates. MORBIDITY AFTER BEREAVEMENTMorbidity studies have tended to rely either on the uncertain relationship between consultation rates and true morbidity or on self-report questionnaires on health after bereavement. Parkes (1964) found

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Section: Anticipatory Griefmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is there a desolation effect after dementia? A comparative study of mortality rates in spouses of dementia patients following admission and bereavement

Ryan¹

1992

Int J Geriat Psychiatry

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“…These comprise: the women's age (Ball, 1977); marital status and educational level (Rådestad et al, 1996); emotional relations/support (Kurz et al, 1997); the women's participation in the care of her partner (Häggmark et al, 1991); intensity of religious faith; treatment for mental health problems prior to the disease/ loss; the site and duration of the patient's illness; and the duration of time the woman was aware of her partner's impending death (awareness time) (identified in this data set).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The unrecognised cost of cancer patients' unrelieved symptoms:a nationwide follow-up of their surviving partners

Valdimarsdóttir

et al. 2002

Br J Cancer

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We investigated if a cancer patient's unrelieved symptoms during the last 3 months of life increase the risk of long-term psychological morbidity of the surviving partner. All women (n=506) living in Sweden under 80 years of age, who lost their husband/partner owing to cancer of the prostate in 1996 or of the urinary bladder in 1995 or 1996 were asked to answer an anonymous postal questionnaire, 2 -4 years after their loss. The widows' psychological morbidity was associated with the patient's unrelieved mental symptoms. When the patient was perceived to have been very anxious during last three months of life (compared to no observed symptoms) the relative risks for the widows' psychological morbidity were: 2.5 (1.4 -4.3) for depression and 3.4 (1.4 -8.2) for anxiety. When comparing reports of the patient's pain (much vs no), the relative risks were 0.8 (0.5 -1.2) for widowhood depression, and 0.8 (0.4 -1.7) for widowhood anxiety. The patients were found to have had adequate access to physical pain control but poor access to psychological symptom control. Efficiency in diagnosing and treating psychological complications of terminally ill cancer patients may not only improve their quality of life but possibly also prevent long-term psychological morbidity of their surviving partners.

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“…8 The implications are that for young widows, widowhood is not merely a state of mourning, but rather a process of adaptation which is largely a process of identity reconstruction, as premature loss results in identity discontinuity. 9 It is this well-documented loss of identity occasioned by the advent of young widowhood and the subsequent need to rebuild the self which makes the young widow memoir of particular interest to scholarly examination of narrative identity construction.…”

Section: The Young Widow Memoirmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Nature of the Dialogical Self: The Young Widow Memoir

Elzen

2017

EJLW

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This paper intends to contribute to the ongoing debate on identity construction by offering a textual analysis of two memoirs that depict the experience of young widowhood: Unremarried Widow by Artis Henderson (2014) and When it Rains by Maggie MacKellar (2010). I refer to the texts as young widow memoirs and identify them as a sub-genre of the grief memoir. Drawing on Paul Eakin's concept of narrative identity and Hubert Hermans' dialogical self theory, the analysis investigates how the memoirists use narrative to negotiate and represent the multiple subject positions and conflicting voices that arise out of the experience of young widowhood, and how they position selves which existed prior to their loss in relation to their post-loss selves. The memoirs under review are shown to rebuild a relatively stable sense of self out of the multiple voices of loss.

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Widow's Grief: The Impact of Age and Mode of Death

Cited by 140 publications

References 38 publications

Is there a desolation effect after dementia? A comparative study of mortality rates in spouses of dementia patients following admission and bereavement

Is there a desolation effect after dementia? A comparative study of mortality rates in spouses of dementia patients following admission and bereavement

The unrecognised cost of cancer patients' unrelieved symptoms:a nationwide follow-up of their surviving partners

Exploring the Nature of the Dialogical Self: The Young Widow Memoir

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