ArticleAge and ageing2022
'Unprepared for the depth of my feelings' - Capturing grief in older people through research poetry.
Article in Age and ageing, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- The role of technology-based interventions in older adults experiencing spousal bereavement: a systematic review of clinical trials.BMC psychology · 2026Pooled it
- The Lawlessness of Loss: Poetry and Autoethnographic Writing as Therapy in Grief and Loss.Omega · 2026Review
- A Walk With Grief: A Personal Narrative of Coping With the Death of a Same Sex Partner in Late Life.The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry · 2026Article
- 'This is perfect, thank you': Research poetry on gratitude for voluntary assisted dying in Victoria, Australia.Australasian journal on ageing · 2025Article
- Qualitative Bereavement Experiences and Support in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Scoping Review.Omega · 2024Article
- Arts-based research with immigrant and racialized older adults: A scoping review.Qualitative social work : QSW : research and practice · 2024Article
- Shakuhachi and Haiku Reflection: Their Role in Enhancing Health for Older Adults.Hawai'i journal of health & social welfare · 2024Article
- 'Misdiagnosed and Misunderstood': Insights into Rarer Forms of Dementia through a Stepwise Approach to Co-Constructed Research Poetry.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Literary, Found and Research Poetry: New Approaches to Representations of Aging and Aged Care.The Gerontologist · 2023Article
- Using Arts-Based Methodologies to Understand Adolescent and Youth Manifestations, Representations, and Potential Causes of Depression and Anxiety in Low-Income Urban Settings in Peru.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- 'Unprepared for the depth of my feelings' - Capturing grief in older people through research poetry.Age and ageing · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundOlder people are more likely to experience bereavements than any other age group. However, in healthcare and society, their grief experiences and support needs receive limited attention. Through innovative, arts-based research poetry, this study aimed to capture older people's bereavement stories and the effects of grief on their physical and mental health.
methodSemi-structured in-depth interviews with 18 bereaved older adults were analysed using thematic and poetic narrative analysis, following a five-step approach of immersion, creation, critical reflection, ethics and engagement.
resultsResearch poems were used to illustrate three themes of bereavement experiences among older adults: feeling unprepared, accumulation of losses and ripple effects of grief. While half of participants reported that the death of their family member was expected, many felt unprepared despite having experienced multiple bereavements throughout their life. Instead, the accumulation of losses had a compounding effect on their health and well-being. While these ripple effects of grief focussed on emotional and mental health consequences, many also reported physical health effects like the onset of a new condition or the worsening of an existing one. In its most extreme form, grief was connected with a perceived increased mortality risk.
conclusionsBy using poetry to draw attention to the intense and often long-lasting effects of grief on older people's health and well-being, this article offers emotional, engaging and immersive insights into their unique bereavement experiences and thereby challenges the notion that grief has an expiry date.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.