Midwestern Farm Widows: Adaptation Following Spousal Loss

Abstract

The purpose of this descriptive study was to co-create oral histories of Midwestern farm widows. Rural widows constitute a vulnerable population due to issues of bereavement and depression compounded by emotional and geographical isolation. A farm widow is often forced to maintain viability of the farm for the family’s livelihood. Oral history interviews with nine Midwest farm widows were conducted and analyzed. Three overarching themes emerged: competence, industriousness, and inner strength. Women shared stories of overcoming insurmountable obstacles. This study contributes to the literature on grief and expanding inner strength among rural widows. Further research could inform theory related to inner strength following a challenging life event.

Keywords

adaptation bereavement farm widows spousal loss

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abrams

(2010). Oral history theory. New York, NY: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.

Bennett

(2013, June 30). Death comes to us of for us [blog post]. Retrieved from Wife to Widow: http://1wifetowidow.blogspot.com

Berkowitz

Hedlund

(1979). Psychological stress and role congruence in farm families. Cornell Journal of Social Relations, 14, 47-58.

Brasier

K. J.

Sachs

C. E.

Kiernan

N. E.

Trauger

Barbercheck

M. E.

(2014). Capturing the multiple and shifting identities of farm women in the Northeastern United States. Rural Sociology, 79(3), 283-309. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ruso.12040

Brossart

D. F.

Wendel

M. L.

Elliott

T. R.

Cook

H. E.

Castillo

L. G.

Burdine

J. N.

(2013). Assessing depression in rural communities. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 69(3), 252-263. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jclp.21949

Brown

D. D.

Andrews

C. M.

Niemczura

C. M.

(2000). Cultural influence on care seeking by depressed women in rural Appalachia. American Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 4(5), 25-26.

Corrigan

P. W.

Wassel

(2008). Understanding and influencing the stigma of mental illness. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing, 46(1), 42-48.

De Vries

Utz

Caserta

Lund

. (2014). Friend and family contact and support in early widowhood. Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 69(1), 75-84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbt078

Dickinson

Cook

Playle

Hallett

(2014, December). Nurses and subordination: A historical study of mental nurses’ perceptions on administering aversion therapy for ‘sexual deviations’. Nursing Inquiry, 21(4), 283-293. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/nin.12044

10.

DiGiacomo

Lewis

Nolan

M. R.

Phillips

Davidson

P. M.

(2013). Health transitions in recently widowed older women: A mixed methods study. BMC Health Services Research, 13. Retrieved from http://biomedcentral.com/1472-6963/13/143

11.

Dingley

Roux

G. M.

(2014). The role of inner strength in quality of life and self-management in women survivors of cancer. Research in Nursing and Health, 37, 32-41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/nur.21579

12.

Frisch

(1990). A shared authority: Essays on the craft and meaning of oral and public history. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

13.

Gailie

Jiggins

Struik

P. C.

(2013, September). Women’s identity as farmers: A case study from ten households in Syria. NJAS-Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences, 64-65, 25-33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.njas.2012.10.001

14.

Galatzer-Levy

I. R.

Bonanno

G. A.

(2012). Beyond normality in the study of bereavement: Heterogeneity in depression outcomes following loss in older adults. Social Science and Medicine, 74, 1987-1994. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.02.022

15.

Groh

C. J.

(2013). Depression in rural women: Implications for nurse practitioners in rural settings. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 25, 84-90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-7599.2012.00762.x

16.

Haase

T. J.

Johnston

(2012). Making meaning out of loss: A story and study of young widowhood. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 7(3), 204-221. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080-15401383.2012.710170

17.

Haunstein

E. J.

Peddada

S. D.

(2007). Prevalence of major depressive episodes in rural women using primary care. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 18(1), 185-202.

18.

Holm

A. L.

Severinsson

(2012). Systematic review of the emotional state and self-management of widows. Nursing and Health Sciences, 14, 109-120. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-2018.2011.00656.x

19.

Hoppe

R. A.

Korb

(2013). Characteristics of women farm operators and their farms [economic information bulletin]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.

20.

Janesick

V. J.

(2010). Oral history for the qualitative researcher: Choreographing the story. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

21.

Jellison

(1993). Entitled to power: Farm women and technology. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press.

22.

Kessler

McGonagle

Zhao

(2006). Life-time and 12-month prevalence of DSM-III-R psychiatric disorders in the United States: Results from the national comorbidity survey. Archives of General Psychiatry, 51, 8-19.

23.

Kunz

J. A.

Soltys

F. G.

(2007). Transformational reminiscence: Life story work. New York, NY: Springer Publishing.

24.

Leavy

(2011). Oral history: Understanding qualitative research. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

25.

Mulder

P. L.

Schellenberger

Streigel

Sears

S. F.

Jumper-Thurman

Kalodner

. . . Hager

(2007). The behavioral health care needs of rural women. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pubs/info/reports/rural-women.pdf

26.

Naef

Ward

Mahrer-Imhof

Grande

(2013). Characteristics of the bereavement experience of older persons after spousal loss: An integrative review. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 50, 1108-1121. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2012.00.026

27.

National Rural Health Association. (2013). Rural women’s health [policy brief]. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/url?sa=tandrct=jandq=andesrc=sandsource=webandcd=1andved=0CB4QFjAAandurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ruralhealthweb.org%2Findex.cfm%3Fobjectid%3DF5A503E1-3048-651A-FE066957562D3AC7andei=5UvyVOC_CcL2yQSovYDoBwandusg=AFQjCNFSBAZTQxXM-ldmYyAuVhuORwwr6Aandsig2=a3KtPrlIapVxGYWm5k3OOgandbvm=bv.87269000,d.aWw

28.

O’Donoghue

E. J.

Hoppe

R. A.

Banker

D. E.

Ebel

Fuglie

Korb

. . . Sandretto

(2011). The changing organization of U.S. farming (EIB-88). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

29.

Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2015). Healthy People 2020: Topics and objectives: Mental health and mental disorders. Retrieved from http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/mental-health-and-mental-disorders/objectives

30.

Pelka

(2012). What we have done: An oral history of the disability rights movement. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.

31.

Rosenfeld

R. A.

(1985). Farm women: Work, farm, and family in the United States. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press.

32.

Schackel

S. K.

(2011). Working the land: The stories of ranch and farm women in the modern American West. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.

33.

Scheerer

Brandt

(2001). Interviews with widows following fatal farm incidents. Journal of Agricultural Safety and Health, 7(2), 155-162.

34.

Schneider

S. A.

(2013, May 31). USDA ERS report on women farmers [blog post]. Retrieved from Agricultural Law: The Official Blog of the AALS Section on Agricultural Food and Law: http://aglaw.blogspot.com/2013/5/usda-ers-report-on-women-farmers.html

35.

Sharpless

(1999). Fertile ground, narrow choices: Women on Texas cotton farms, 1900-1949. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press.

36.

Some

(2013, May). “Hot money”: Gender and the politics of negotiation and control over income in West African smallholder households. Africa, 83(2), 251-270.

37.

Spiers

(2000). New perspectives on vulnerability using emic and etic approaches. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 31(3), 715-721.

38.

Stroebe

Abakoumkin

Stroebe

(2010). Beyond depression: Yearning for the loss of a loved one. OMEGA, 61(2), 85-101. http://dx.doi.org/10.2190/om.61.2.a

39.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2013). Results from the 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Mental Health Findings (HHS Publication No. [SMA] 13-4805). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

40.

Thomas

Magilvy

J. K.

(2011). Qualitative rigor or research validity in qualitative research. Pediatric Nursing, 16, 151-155. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6155.2001.00283.x

41.

Topp

L. M.

(2013). Women at the reins. Lisbon, CT: Cedar Knoll Press.

42.

United States Bureau of the Census. (1956). United States Census of Agriculture: 1954. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

43.

United States Department of Agriculture. (2009). 2007 Census of agriculture: United States summary and state data (NASS Publication No. AC-07-A-51). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

44.

United States Department of Agriculture. (2014). 2012 Census of agriculture: United States summary and state data (NASS Publicaiton No. AC-12-A-51). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

45.

Van Hook

M. P

. (1996). Challenges to identifying and treating women with depression in rural primary care. Social Work in Health Care, 23(3), 73-92.

46.

Wall

B. M.

Dhurmah

Lamboni

Phiri

B. E.

(2015, August). ‘I am a nurse’: Oral histories of African nurses. American Journal of Nursing, 115(8), 22-42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/01.NAJ.0000470396.61855.cd

47.

Zimmerman

J. N.

Larson

O. F.

(2010). Opening windows onto hidden lives: Women, country life, and early sociological research. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press.