Landscapes of loss: spaces of memory, times of bereavement

The qualitative study described in this paper explores later life spousal bereavement as a spatialised experience. It draws on interviews with 20 older widowed people who were living alone, half in owner-occupied accommodation and half in sheltered housing. Moving beyond the older adult's ‘inner’ world of grief, it examines changes in the use and meaning of both public and domestic space in order to provide an holistic, culturally-located analysis. The following themes are identified as important: the type of housing, interviewees’ spatialised social relationships, the experience of spousal caregiving prior to bereavement and the ongoing relationship between the living and the dead partner.

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Aging Without Children: The Link between Parental Status and Tangible Support

Journal of Family Issues ◽

10.1177/0192513x21993203 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 0192513X2199320

Author(s):

Agnete Aslaug Kjær ◽

Anu Siren

Keyword(s):

Later Life ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Living Alone ◽

Parental Status ◽

Older Individuals ◽

Care And Support ◽

Major Disadvantage ◽

Potential Resource ◽

Tangible Support ◽

Negative Link

Having children is a potential resource for care and support in later life. However, whether and, if so, under what conditions, childless older individuals risk insufficient support remains unclear. Using the Danish Longitudinal Study of Ageing (2017), restricted to respondents aged 67 years to 97 years ( n = 5,006), our study analyzes the link between availability of tangible support and parental status in a Nordic welfare state. Our results confirm a negative link between childlessness and support mainly among unpartnered individuals. This combined disadvantage is stronger among men than among women, and the support gap intensifies with increased health needs. Taken together, although childlessness in itself is no major disadvantage for support in late life, childless men living alone risk insufficient support, particularly when in poor health. Our findings have important policy implications for future cohorts of older individuals, who will have less access to support from either a spouse or children.

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P3-643: LIVING ALONE AND COGNITIVE FUNCTION IN LATER LIFE

Alzheimer s & Dementia ◽

10.1016/j.jalz.2018.06.2010 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 14 (7S_Part_26) ◽

pp. P1379-P1380

Author(s):

Isobel E.M. Evans ◽

David J. Llewellyn ◽

Fiona Matthews ◽

Bob Woods ◽

Carol Brayne ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Function ◽

Later Life ◽

Living Alone

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Qualitative Study of Spirituality in End-of-Life Care for Elderly Men Living Alone: Perspective of Care Managers

JOURNAL OF THE JAPANESE ASSOCIATION OF RURAL MEDICINE ◽

10.2185/jjrm.66.455 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 66 (4) ◽

pp. 455-461

Author(s):

Yoshihisa HIRAKAWA

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Study ◽

End Of Life ◽

End Of Life Care ◽

Living Alone ◽

Life Care ◽

Elderly Men ◽

Care Managers

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Theorising Sleep Practices and Later Life: Moving to Sheltered Housing

Sociological Research Online ◽

10.5153/sro.1555 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 12 (5) ◽

pp. 214-224 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Eileen Fairhurst

Keyword(s):

Older People ◽

Textual Analysis ◽

Later Life ◽

Original Data ◽

Sheltered Housing ◽

Future Research ◽

Special Issue ◽

Professional Discourse ◽

Interesting Topic

This paper re-analyses data from a study of older people and sheltered housing which combined textual analysis of professional discourse with interviews. There were only two references salient to ‘sleep’ in that paper and I offered no analytic comment upon them. At that time, then, sleep as a sociologically interesting topic, was, for me a taken for granted matter. It is that taken for grantedness that is examined here. On being invited to contribute to this special issue, I went back to the original data and interrogated it for ‘sleep’. I realised that, with this different concern, the texts and interviews contained much more about the ‘doing’ of sleep in later life than I had appreciated, especially where, when and how sleeping practices occur. Sleeping ‘upstairs’ or ‘downstairs’, in a single- or double-bed and on which side of the bed were all matters of relevance when older people were considering a move to sheltered housing. Older people's own sleeping practices are contrasted with those offered in texts produced by architects designing sheltered housing. The paper concludes by considering the methodological implications of re-analysing research materials for emerging sociological topics and by giving pointers to future research on sleep practices in later life.

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The Social Context and Resources of the Unmarried in Old Age

The International Journal of Aging and Human Development ◽

10.2190/gjvn-pnn9-4jbq-19dh ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 23 (2) ◽

pp. 81-96 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Pat M. Keith

Keyword(s):

Social Context ◽

Life Course ◽

Old Age ◽

Social Relationships ◽

Later Life ◽

Social Resources ◽

Future Research ◽

Role Transitions ◽

The Social ◽

The Life Course

A model of singleness in later life was developed to show how the social context may influence the personal and social resources of older, unmarried persons. The unmarried (especially the divorced) will be an increasing proportion of the aged population in the future, and they will require more services than will the married. Role transitions of the unmarried over the life course, finances, health, and social relationships of older singles are discussed with implications for practice and future research.

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The Kailyard Comes to London: The Progressive Potential of Romantic Convention in Annie S. Swan’s A Victory Won

Home and Identity in Nineteenth-Century Literary London ◽

10.3366/edinburgh/9781474457880.003.0006 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 95-110

Author(s):

Lisa C. Robertson

Keyword(s):

Social Relationships ◽

Domestic Space ◽

The Novel ◽

Progressive Potential

This chapter examines Annie S. Swan’s novel A Victory Won (1895) in the context of the generic conventions of the kailyard genre. Despite the novel’s romantic representation of the fictional ‘Barker Street Chambers’, which is based on the Chenies Street Chambers, it explores the value of the new social relationships that could emerge in such spaces. The novel focuses on a mutually supportive and egalitarian relationship between two women who share domestic space, and in so doing elaborates on the possibilities – rather than the drawbacks – of gender-segregated housing.

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Flowering at Sunset

Remaking Families in Contemporary China ◽

10.1093/oso/9780197510988.003.0006 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 151-184

Author(s):

Xiaoying Qi

Keyword(s):

Social Relationships ◽

Adult Children ◽

Older Persons ◽

Later Life ◽

The Elderly ◽

The Face ◽

Private Matter ◽

Mainstream Literature

Through an examination of remarriage and repartnering among the elderly, this chapter explores the occurrence of later-life cohabitation, the issues it raises for participants, and the intergenerational considerations it generates. Whereas the mainstream literature tends to treat remarriage or cohabitation among older persons as a private matter between the couples, the Chinese cases discussed in the chapter provide a contrasting perspective, in which the attitudes and expectations of adult children, especially regarding inheritance, but also in terms of the provision of eldercare, impact the cohabitation and remarriage decisions of the elderly. The chapter also identifies otherwise neglected aspects of social relationships, including concerns about the face of the persons directly involved, as well as more distant others.

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‘I’ve never drunk very much water and I still don’t, and I see no reason to do so’: a qualitative study of the views of community-dwelling older people and carers on hydration in later life

Age and Ageing ◽

10.1093/ageing/afz141 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 49 (1) ◽

pp. 111-118 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Cini Bhanu ◽

Christina Avgerinou ◽

Kalpa Kharicha ◽

Yehudit Bauernfreund ◽

Helen Croker ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Study ◽

Older People ◽

Later Life ◽

Adverse Outcomes ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Drinking Patterns ◽

Adequate Hydration ◽

Perceived Importance ◽

Community Dwelling Older People ◽

Informal Carers

Abstract Background dehydration is associated with significant adverse outcomes in older people despite being largely preventable and treatable. Little research has focused on the views of community-dwelling older people on hydration, healthy drinking and the perceived importance of drinking well in later life. Objectives to understand community-dwelling older people and informal carers’ views on hydration in later life and how older people can be supported to drink well. Methods qualitative study using interviews and a focus group exploring hydration and nutrition in later life (24 older people at risk of malnutrition and dehydration, 9 informal carers) and thematic analysis. Results this article presents the findings on hydration alone. Four themes are presented: perceptions of healthy drinking, barriers to and facilitators of drinking in later life and supporting older people to drink well. The perceived importance of adequate hydration in later life was polarised. Concerns about urinary incontinence and knowledge gaps were significant barriers. Consideration of individual taste preference and functional capacity acted as facilitators. Distinct habitual drinking patterns with medications and meals exist within individuals. Many relied on thirst at other times or when fluid demands are greater (such as hot weather), a known unreliable prompt in later life. Conclusions older people could be supported to drink well by building upon existing habitual drinking patterns. Primary care and public health should consider individual barriers, facilitators and tailored education. A multidisciplinary approach to promote hydration should be incorporated into care for older people with more complex needs.

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