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Caring for People who Die: The Experience of Family and Friends

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2008

Clive Seale
Clive Seale
Affiliation:
Senior Lecturer at the Department of Sociology, Polytechnic of East London, Livingstone House, Livingstone Road, London, E15 2LL, UK.
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Abstract

A survey of relatives, friends and others who knew the deceased in a random national sample of adult deaths in England forms the basis of this report. Comparisons of this 1987 sample are made with a similar study carried out in 1969. The sample of deaths was largely one of elderly people, and changes in the family and household compositions of these people reflect changes in the wider population of elderly people. More lived alone, or in smaller family units, and fewer sources of help during their final illness were available from relatives. Women were particularly disadvantaged, both as dependants and carers, who were then bereaved, often themselves left to live alone. The stress and the mixed feelings of carers are described. Nevertheless, a substantial minority were free of serious levels of dependency in their last year of life. Those dying of cancer formed a somewhat younger group, with shorter periods of dependency and greater availability of relatives to look after them. Many of the medical and nursing innovations in the care of the dying have focused exclusively on cancer. This study demonstrates the value of a broader perspective on death and dying that emphasises the needs of older people.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , December 1990 , pp. 413 - 428
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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References

NOTES

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