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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Social integration, a sense of belonging and the Cenotaph Service
— old soldiers reminisce about Remembrance | | Author(s) | Duncan S Barron, Stephen P Davies, Richard D Wiggins |
| Journal title | Aging & Mental Health, vol 12, no 4, July 2008 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis, July 2008 |
| Pages | pp 509-516 |
| Source | http://www.tandfonline.com |
| Keywords | Armed Forces ; Church services ; Older men ; Older women ; Memory and Reminiscence ; War ; Integration ; Social surveys. |
| Annotation | Collective commemorations can be important sources of support for many older veterans. This study explored how war commemorations such as the Cenotaph Service in the UK enable older veterans to benefit from a feeling of integration and belonging gained from both comradeship and acknowledgement from wider society. Focus groups with 45 veterans, preceded by a video clip of the Cenotaph Service with 45 veterans, were used to discuss the significance of collective commemorations. Findings indicated that social integration and a sense of belonging are fostered both by comradeship and social support during collective commemorations, allowing veterans to reminisce safely. Spontaneous reminiscences involving troubling memories may be processed more easily with the support, social integration and sense of belonging which occurs at collective commemorations. Many Korean War and female World War II veterans felt forgotten and socially isolated, but described gaining vicarious support via collective commemorations. The main effects and buffering models of social support discussed in 'Stress, social support and the buffering hypothesis' (Cohen and Wills, Psychological Bulletin, 1985) are used to discuss the findings further. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-081010213 A |
| Classmark | VMM: OWM: BC: BD: DB: VMC: TO: 3F |
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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