Centre for Policy on Ageing



Old losses — a retrospective study of miscarriage and infant death, 1926-1955
Author(s)	Laura S Smart
Journal title	Journal of Women & Aging, vol 15, no 1, 2003
Pages	pp 71-92
Source	http://www.tandfonline.com
Keywords	Older women ; Bereavement ; Memory and Reminiscence ; Qualitative Studies ; United States of America.
Annotation	Childbearing-related losses of 16 older Caucasians (13 women and 3 men, aged 69-90) were examined retrospectively in this qualitative study. Recollections of social support, grief at the time of loss, and current meaning attributed to the loss were the foci of the study. Most respondents recalled having felt grief at the time of miscarriage, foetal death or infant death, and most did not have lingering feelings of grief. Women who did not have grandchildren and who recalled insufficient social support appeared to be more vulnerable to feelings of lasting grief. A life course approach, which examines personal narrative in relation to ontological, generational and historical time, fits with the interpretation given by older respondents to their childbearing losses. (KJ/RH).
Accession Number	CPA-030515232 A
Classmark	BD: DW: DB: 3DP: 7T
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing

...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.