Philippine E-Journals

Alteration Of Being: Older Widows’ Grieving Experience

Dawn Dela Cruz | Marlene R. Padua

Discipline: Adult Nursing

 

Abstract:

Aim. The researchers primarily examined the way older women experienced grief; subsequently, developed a grounded theory of grief within their social context. Method. This qualitative study used Active Interviewing following the Straussian grounded design to guide the researchers in collecting and coding data in order to identify emerging categories and finally to generate a substantive theory. Results. A core category, “Alteration of Being” emerged from the grieving process of the elder widows. The participants suffered both the loss of a life partner and their own identity. Accompanying these losses include challenges of widowhood in later life, the need for personal, financial, and lifestyle changes; and the readjustment to life as a new identity formed. Discussion. For the older widows, grieving after bereavement is not a piece of work to finish and move on; rather, it is about an element of self--an alteration of being… a new way of seeing a new definition of self. Grief is not a process or stage; rather, it is something to bear and endure because it remains in existence for life. Occasionally, grief lives on among older widows. For them, it is too late to start anew. Their relationship with their spouses lasted for decades and is not easy to forget and let go. It reverberates…