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A longitudinal study of bereavement phenomena in recently widowed elderly men

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

G. J. A. Byrne  and
B. Raphael
G. J. A. Byrne*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Queensland, Australia
B. Raphael
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Queensland, Australia
*
1 Address for correspondence: Dr Gerard Byrne, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Queensland, Room E15, Clinical Sciences Building, Royal Brisbane Hospital, Herston, Queensland, 4029, Australia
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Synopsis

A three-phase longitudinal design was used to study bereavement phenomena in a cohort (N = 78) of recently widowed elderly Australian men. One group of 57 widowers was compared with a second group of 21 widowers on a waiting list. A brief, interviewer-administered, structured questionnaire was used to rate the frequency of 22 self-reported bereavement phenomena. The prevalence and temporal evolution of these phenomena are described. Half of a subgroup of elderly widowers reporting high levels of bereavement phenomena at 6 weeks post-bereavement went on to exhibit persistent or chronic grief at 13 months post-bereavement. The prevalence of persistent or chronic grief throughout the first 13 months post-bereavement was 8·8%. Income, education and expectedness of the death were all negatively correlated with frequency of self-reported bereavement phenomena at 6 weeks post-bereavement. In a multiple regression analysis only expectedness of the death contributed significantly to prediction of the frequency of bereavement phenomena at 6 weeks post-bereavement. Widowers who were unable to anticipate their wife's death, even when their wife had suffered a long final illness, had a more severe bereavement reaction.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , May 1994 , pp. 411 - 421
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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