Do widowers use the health care system differently? Does intervention make a difference?
OBJECTIVE
To describe the health care use patterns of widowers who had participated in a randomized trial of mutual support, and of a matched cohort of married men


METHODS
Retrospective audit of Ministry of Health use data


METHODS
The family practice unit in a general teaching hospital.


METHODS
The 113 new widowers (61 treatment, 52 waiting-list controls) who participated in a randomized trial of mutual support, and 111 married men matched for age


METHODS
Mutual support program


METHODS
Monthly rates of visits to family physicians, psychiatrists, and all other specialists for the three cohorts


RESULTS
Visit rates to family physicians and specialists (SPs) for the married men were stable for the 20 months of the study; rates for the widowers rose significantly from the time of loss to the end of the intervention (for FPs, f = 13.18, df = 2, P < .01; for SPs, f = 5.34, df = 2, P = .005). Rates for FPs declined after intervention for the treatment group, but kept rising among the controls (f = 4.17, df = 1, P = .044).


CONCLUSIONS
The decreased physician visit rate among those taking part in the mutual support program suggests that this program met some of the widowers' social support needs that would otherwise have led to the use of health care resources.
Tudiver
F
F
Primary Care Research Unit, Sunnybrook Health Science Centre.
Permaul-Woods
J A
JA
Hilditch
J
J
Harmina
J
J
Saini
S
S
D000368:Aged; D001601:Bereavement; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005194:Family Practice; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D008511:Medicine; D008875:Middle Aged; D010379:Peer Group; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011570:Psychiatry; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012657:Self-Help Groups; D012944:Social Support; D013038:Specialization; D017805:Widowhood