| |
Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
 | |
|
'But I do believe you've got to accept that that's what life's about'
— older adults living in New Zealand talk about their experiences of loss and bereavement support | | Author(s) | Gary Bellamy, Merryn Gott, Susan Waterworth |
| Journal title | Health and Social Care in the Community, vol 22, no 1, January 2014 |
| Publisher | Wiley Blackwell, January 2014 |
| Pages | pp 96-103 |
| Source | wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hsc |
| Keywords | Bereavement ; Social surveys ; New Zealand. |
| Annotation | Older people's views, experiences and sources of bereavement support were explored following the death of a spouse, family member or other significant individual. Telephone interviews were conducted with 28 bereaved older adults recruited from the Brief Risk Identification Geriatric Health Tool trial participants in three geographically diverse District Health Boards in New Zealand. Analysis adhered to the principles of grounded theory and followed the National Centre for Social Research 'Framework' approach. Findings indicate that family and friends play a fundamental role supporting older bereaved adults, both emotionally and practically. Existing community-based organisations were identified as an important source of support following bereavement. Despite the emotional, financial and practical challenges associated with bereavement, the majority of participants questioned the role of, need for and value of formal bereavement support services. Instead, study participants cited a combination of being older and previous life experiences as factors that had enabled them to cope with these largely 'expected' events. Moreover, they demonstrated considerable resilience in managing the emotional and practical changes associated with loss and bereavement. The paper highlights the value of adopting a public health-based approach as a way of optimising bereavement support via the use of existing community organisations previously known to older people. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-150522236 A |
| Classmark | DW: 3F: 7YN |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
|
| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
| |
|