Outgoing helping behavior as a coping strategy during the first year of bereavement among the elderly: toward a model for nursing intervention

Helping behavior of bereaved elderly was investigated in this longitudinal, descriptive study. Data were taken from a larger project on bereavement and adaptation in the elderly. Helping behavior is a behavioral activity that involves interactional exchange of mutual support and the provision of services within the structure of the social network system. Specific helping activities engaged in by the bereaved (N=51) were categorized into four types of helping behaviors. The categories were emotional, economic, service and social. A description of each helping behavior category included the occurrence of specific helping activities, and the frequency of participation of bereaved elderly in each type of helping behavior during six months to one year following the death of their spouse. Included with the description of helping behavior was a summary of target individuals or recipients of helping by the bereaved elderly and a summary of the reasons why helping occurred of did not occur. The results showed that a high percentage of the total sample of bereaved elderly reported some participation in all categories of helping behavior during the first year of bereavement. The frequencies in each category were fairly evenly distributed between "not very often," "sometimes," and "quite often." The target individuals or recipients of helping by the elderly in all categories were primarily children, friends, and neighbors, with the exception of the economic category in which the respondents indicated that children were the main recipients of financial assistance. Examination of selected demographic variables and relationship to types of frequency of helping behavior indicated that age of the bereaved individual was a determinant in provision of services and participation in social activities. The older the individual, the less likely they were to provide services and participate in social activities. Other findings indicated that with higher perceived health, there was more service provision and with lower income there was less economic assistance. Younger women provided more services more frequently to others. Additional findings indicated that those bereaved elderly who were male and in the higher age ranges were less likely to be providing helping activities in all helping categories. Other finding indicate significant negative longitudinal effects with the occurrence and frequency of economic assistance and a decrease in perceived coping, perceived health and an increase in depression.