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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| The health and social needs of recently widowed older women in Australia | | Author(s) | Susan Feldman, Julie Byles, Gita Mishra |
| Journal title | Australasian Journal on Ageing, vol 21.3, September 2002 |
| Pages | pp 135-140 |
| Keywords | Older women ; Widows ; Health services ; Mental health [elderly] ; Needs [elderly] ; Social surveys ; Australia. |
| Annotation | Women who have been recently widowed have broad needs for practical help and advice. The authors report on a cross-sectional survey of 430 widowed women participating in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health, of whom 340 (79%) responded. 231 of these women had been widowed three years or less. While 81% of the 231 women still lived in their own homes, 19% had moved house since being widowed for financial or social reasons. There were needs for legal services (44%), and home maintenance (55%). Assistance from medical practitioners included understanding (64%), support ((38%), and information (23%). 30% said they received medication to assist their bereavement, and 30% had taken medication to help them sleep "for their nerves" within the 4 weeks prior to the survey. Most women (85%) felt they had maintained or increased their level of social contact since becoming widowed. Appropriate services for widowed women need to encompass the social context in which widowed women are attempting to reconstruct their lives. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-030122208 A |
| Classmark | BD: SP: L: D: IK: 3F: 7YA |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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