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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Good grief
— older people's experiences of partner bereavement | | Author(s) | Catherine Seymour, Jeremy Bushnell, Sarah Dobson |
| Corporate Author | Independent Age |
| Publisher | Independent Age, London, April 2018 |
| Pages | 48 pp |
| Source | Independent Age, 6 Avonmore Road, London W14 8RL. Website: www.independentage.org |
| Keywords | Bereavement ; Spouses ; Loneliness ; Isolation ; Health [elderly] ; Research. |
| Annotation | Older people are more likely to experience bereavement than any other age group, and are less likely to seek help than younger bereaved people. This report brings together what we already know about older people's experiences of bereavement, and new research centred on older people whose partners have died. The focus is on how bereaved people are affected in terms of: loneliness and isolation; mental and physical health; financial and practical considerations; and feelings and grief. Research was conducted in conjunction with the International Longevity Centre - UK (ILC-UK) using an evidence review of older bereavement, analysis of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), and a survey by ComRes of 200 older British adults (age 65+) who had experienced the death of a partner. The report finds that bereavement support can be difficult to navigate, there being multiple small providers, no single approach, and no consistency in the approach provided by health and care staff. It demonstrates how talking about death at individual and policy levels can start to provide the help older people need. It makes recommendations to improve the provision of effective bereavement support. Assistance from the Methodist Homes Association, Open Age, Compassion in Dying and the Loss Foundation in finding participants for the research is acknowledged. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-180504005 B |
| Classmark | DW: SN: DV: TP: CC: 3A |
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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