The experience of bereavement in older adults

One of the most profound losses experienced by humans is the death of a spouse. The purposes of this report are to describe the grief experiences of older adults over the first 2 years after the death of their spouse, and to compare these experiences with those of younger bereaved spouses. Data from interviews with 12 older bereaved spouses were analysed using the universal semantic relationships described by Spradley (1979). The major categories that emerged from the data were 'feelings', 'physical symptoms', 'special hardships', 'coping' and 'support'. This report describes respondent experience related to the first four categories; the ways in which bereaved spouses received support have been described elsewhere (Rigdon et al. 1987). Important similarities and differences between experiences of older and younger bereaved spouses are discussed, and recommendations for how nurses can meet the special needs of bereaved older adults are made.