| |
Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
 | |
|
| Themes of suffering in later life | | Author(s) | Helen K Black, Robert L Rubinstein |
| Journal title | Journals of Gerontology: Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, vol 59B, no 1, January 2004 |
| Pages | pp S17-S24 |
| Source | http://www.geron.org |
| Keywords | Bereavement ; Ill health ; Depression ; White people ; Black people ; Qualitative Studies ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | 40 community-dwelling people aged 70+ from the Philadelphia area were recruited for this qualitative study, to elicit their life stories and experiences and philosophies about suffering. Subjects were 10 African American men and women and 10 European American men and women each. Through analysis of the data, their experiences of suffering were placed under three general themes: suffering as lack of control; suffering as loss; and the value of suffering. Brief case studies illustrate how themes emerged in their stories of suffering. It appears from the findings that, although subjects have some similarities, their experiences of suffering are unique and incomparable. Similarities concern informants' connections of suffering with finitude. The incomparability of suffering experiences relate to informants' unique personal histories, perceptions and "cause" of suffering. Through the process of the interview, these older people connect the suffering experience to the entirety of the life lived and the story of suffering to the life story. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-040705209 A |
| Classmark | DW: CH: ENR: TKA: TKE: 3DP: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
|
| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
| |
|