Summary information

Study title

Life After a Death: a Study of the Elderly Widowed, 1979

Creator

Bowling, A., Institute for Social Studies in Medical Care

Cartwright, A., Institute for Social Studies in Medical Care

Study number / PID

1786 (UKDA)

10.5255/UKDA-SN-1786-2 (DOI)

Data access

Restricted

Series

Not available

Abstract

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The elderly widowed are likely to have a variety of medical and social needs and may have difficulty in mobilising appropriate services. This study aims to identify the needs of elderly widowed people, to describe the ways in which some needs are met and others are not met and to ascertain ways in which services could minimise problems for elderly widowed people and their supporters. It is concerned with the ways in which, and the extent to which, appropriate services are mobilised, with co-operation, and lack of co-operation, between different services; and with the advantages and disadvantages of specialised or more general types of service. The nature of the services covered is wide. Particular attention is paid to the role of the general practitioner and to the support received from the informal network of relatives and neighbours.

For the second edition (March 2016) additional death coded data with further labelling and accompanying documentation were deposited.

Main Topics:

The main topics covered are:

death and its emotional effect on people;
social support and doctor-patient relationship;
health and mental disorders;
socio-demographics.

Family life and marriageSpecific social services: use and availabilityElderlyHealth care services and policies

AGEATTITUDESBURIALSCARE IN THE COMMUNITYCARE OF THE ELDERLYCHILDRENBEREAVEMENTDECISION MAKINGDEPRESSIONFOOD AND NUTRITIONDISEASESDOCTOR-PATIENT RELATIONSHIP

Data collection period

01/05/1979 - 01/10/1979

Country

England

Time dimension

Cross-sectional (one-time) study

Analysis unit

Individuals

Groups

National

Elderly

General practitioners

Widowed

Universe

Elderly widowed (women aged 60 or more and men aged 65 or more) whose spouses' deaths were recorded in January 1979

Sampling procedure

Eight areas (death registration districts) of England were chosen with probability proportional to the number of deaths and taking a random starting point. In each area a random sample of deaths, mostly registered in January 1979, was taken

Kind of data

Numeric

Data collection mode

Face-to-face interview

Postal survey

The widowed and familiars were interviewed orally; general practitioners were surveyed by post

Publisher

UK Data Service

Publication year

1983

Terms of data access

The Data Collection is available to UK Data Service registered users subject to the End User Licence Agreement.

Commercial use of the data requires approval from the data owner or their nominee. The UK Data Service will contact you.

Benjamin, B. and Bowling, A. (1985) 'Mortality after bereavement:: a follow up study of a sample of elderly widowed people', Biology and Society
Bowling, A. and Windsor, E. (1995) 'Death after widow(er)hood. : An analysis of mortality rates up to 13 years after bereavement', 35-49
Bowling, A. (1982) 'I feel so responsible', Community Care
Bowling, A. (1988) 'Who dies after widow(er)hood : A discriminant analysis'
Bowling, A. and Carwright, A. (1985) 'The problems of elderly widowed people, the burden on their supporters', Pour l'histoire des femmes
Bowling, A. (1987) 'Mortality after bereavement. : A review of the literature on survival periods and factors affecting surviva', Social Science and Medicine
Bowling, A. (1989) 'Contact with general practitioners and differences in health status among people aged over 85 years', Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
Bowling, A. (1994) 'Mortality after bereavement', International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 445-459
Bowling, A. and Carwright, A. (1984) 'The elderly widowed'
Carwright, A. (1982) 'The elderly bereaved and their supporters', Berevement Care, 20-22
Carwright, A. (1982) 'The role of the general practitioner in helping the elderly widowed', Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 215-227
Bowling, A. and Charlton, J. (1987) 'Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners', Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
Bowling, A. (1990) 'Caring for the elderly widowed'
Bowling, A. and Carwright, A. (1982) Life after death: : a study of the elderly widowed [Research report], London: Tavistock.