Fang, C;
Carr, S;
(2021)
‘They’re Going to Die at Some Point, but We’re all Going to Die’ – A Qualitative Exploration of Bereavement in Later Life.
OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying
10.1177/00302228211053058.
(In press).
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Abstract
This article reports on a qualitative study to investigate what bereavement means to older people. Drawing upon 80 in-depth interviews collected from eight British and Australian retirement communities, our study revealed that facing bereavement while ageing includes experiences of losing both others and the wholeness of the self. Core themes identified how the experience of losing others can be compounded by ageing-related challenges, undermining older people’s defence from bereavement and frustrating their fundamental meaning and being. The older people’s dynamic responses were also captured, highlighting the importance of supporting their agency to deal with the deeper pain of loss. By extending the concept of bereavement in later life, we also called for a more grief literate culture to mitigate the multifaceted and often deeper distresses of bereavement that older people may face alongside ageing.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | ‘They’re Going to Die at Some Point, but We’re all Going to Die’ – A Qualitative Exploration of Bereavement in Later Life |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1177/00302228211053058 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1177%2F00302228211053058 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). |
| Keywords: | Bereavement, ageing, relational loss, existential distress, grief literacy |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Education, Practice and Society |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10139180 |
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