Effectiveness of Loss Healing Program Among Widowed Elderly Women

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to expand the scope of application in the field as a therapeutic intervention by verifying the effectiveness of composition and application of a loss healing program based on Neimeyer's theory of meaning reconstruction to help the mourning process of the elderly who experienced the loss of a spouse. In order to investigate the effect of the program, a pre-post-post design of an inequality control group was used with 16 people in the experimental group and 16 people in the control group. This program was provided to the experimental group. Bereavement stress, depression, resilience, and quality of life were used as measurement tools to conduct a follow-up survey before, after, and four weeks after the end of the program. As a result of repeated measures analysis of variance to verify the interaction effect by period, bereavement stress (F=17.020, p<.001), depression (F=8.706, p<.01), resilience (F=17.209, p<.001), and quality of life (F=26.279, p<.001) were all significant. It was found that this had a positive effect on the widowed female elderly. The significance of this study is as follows. The loss healing program will help widowed female elderly reflect on the meaning of death, reinterpret the meaning of loss, reduce negative emotions, and re-adapt to daily life by having enough time for mourning. In addition, it can be used to improve the quality of life in old age by strengthening spiritual maturity, self-esteem, and feeling of happiness. In the future, it will be possible to contribute to resetting lives of bereaved victims by providing a loss-healing program and manualizing it through cooperation with local community organizations.