Why Did He Die? the Attributions of Cause of Death among Women Widowed in Later Life

Abstract

The study aimed to examine the causal attributions of death made spontaneously by older widowed women to explain the deaths of their husbands. The data presented are from two qualitative interview studies using the same methodology. There were 65 widows aged between 55 and 93 years old who had been widowed between 0.25 and 60 years. Data were analysed using a grounded theory method and content analysis. Nearly half of the women gave causal explanations for why their husbands died. These explanations can be best understood in terms of lay illness attributions. These results indicate that a broad analysis of cause of death attributions is important in understanding the bereavement experience. The function of attributions in post-bereavement experiences is also examined.

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