title: Bereaved older adults who seek early professional help.
abstract: The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine the characteristics of older bereaved spouses who sought early professional help related to their grief. Among a sample of 339 bereaved older adults, aged 50 years or older, 39 (11.5%) reported that they had obtained some form of professional help. The most commonly reported source of help sought was from clergy followed by that provided by the health-care system and community groups. Those who sought help reported higher depression, lower coping ability, and poorer perceived health as well as slightly lower self-esteem and instrumental and resource-identification skills. With a few exceptions, the particular source of help sought was not statistically related to many of the indicators examined.
authors: University of Utah Gerontology Center, Salt Lake City.
authors: M S
authors: MS
authors: Caserta
authors: D A
authors: DA
authors: Lund
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001293:Attitude to Death; D001601:Bereavement; D002977:Clergy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008393:Marriage; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012944:Social Support; D014589:Utah