A Study of Resilient Effects on Grief Adjustment for the Elderly Widows

[[abstract]] 本研究主旨在瞭解老年喪偶婦女的悲傷調適，並且以復原力的觀點來探討老年喪偶婦女在悲傷調適過程中所擁有的外在資源、個人力量以及復原力的展現。本研究採質性研究之深度訪談法來收集資料，共訪談四位於60歲以後喪偶的老年婦女，訪談後針對所得資料進行分析，主要研究結果發現如下： 一、老年喪偶婦女的生活主要受到生理、情緒、社會和經濟方面的衝擊，並可以從中再歸納出四個研究發現，第一，非預期喪偶事件及原有不穩定健康狀況造成生理衝擊；第二，情緒衝擊是喪偶最普遍現象；第三，並非所有喪偶者皆會出現社會衝擊的現象；第四，穩定退休金和財務管理可以減少經濟衝擊。 二、老年喪偶婦女的悲傷調適之復原因子包括外在資源和個人力量；外在資源如人際支持和宗教支持；個人力量如主動積極、正向思考、運用優勢的個人特質、情緒調節能力、尋求外在資源。 三、老年喪偶婦女復原力的展現主要包括「放下」、「情緒穩定」、「社會參與」、「行動力展現」和「正面態度」五大向度，並可以進一步歸納出四個結果，第一，認知轉變，接受事實，學習放下；第二，情緒轉變，情緒穩定，心情開朗；第三，行為轉變，走出悲傷，連結社會；第四，態度轉變，活在當下，迎向未來。 研究者根據上述研究結果加以討論，並依據此結果提供若干建議以作為老年喪偶婦女、專業助人工作者以及未來研究者的參考依據。[[abstract]]The aim of this research is to understand the elderly widow’s grief adjustment, and, from the perspective of resilience, explores their external resources, self strengths and resilience through the stages of trauma. This research adopts the deep interview to collect the data, which cover four elderly widows more than 60 years of age. The result can be as follows: I.The elder widow’s life is mainly impacted by her physiology, emotions, society and economies. Four discoveries from the impacts can be epitomized as: a) the unexpected event of losing espouse and the unstable health condition may affect her physiology; b) the emotional impact is common among the widows; c) not all widows have social impact; and d) the stable pension and financial management may reduce her economic impact. II.The resilience for elderly widow’s grief can be discussed in terms of external resources and self strength. The external resources include the interpersonal support and religious support; the self strength includes one’s activeness, positiveness, making use of one’s personalities, emotions adjustment, and one’s questing for help of outside resources. III.The resilience of the elderly widows demonstrates five dimensions: a) letting it be, b) stable emotions, c) social participation, d) activeness, and e) positive attitude. These elements may lead to four results: 1) cognitive transformation, facing the music, and learning to let it be; 2) emotional transformation, emotional stability, lighting up their mind; 3) behavioral transformation, working through the trauma, and establishing the social bond; and 4) transformation of attitude, living at present, and facing the future. The result of this research will be further analyzed, and its result may offer a suggestion and reference for the elderly widows, the professional helping workers, and the researchers to come.[[note]]碩