Introduction
It is complicated and painful to lose a spouse. The family bears the brunt for such a loss. One of the essential things following the loss of a spouse is getting to understand the circumstances that surrounded the loss and its secondary effects. Healing can only take place after the acceptance visits (Glazer et al., 2010). The level of grief is determined by one's social setting, resources, and relationships. People's response to a loss such as a bereavement differs and is unique to individuals, yet it is socially experienced. The survivors affect an individual's response to loss. The response also affects the overall impact. The impact is also affected by the changing circumstances and processes of coping, including their psychosocial and spiritual growth. This study aims at setting the psychosocial and physical coping ground for the loss of a spouse. The study aims at exploring the approaches that can be adopted to help a spouse cope with the loss of their mate. It examines the steps, the emotional, mental, and physical aspects of assisting a spouse who is dying. It also looks at the self-agency methods that a spouse and family can adopt to help them cope.
Helping spouse cope - Kubler Ross Steps
The five steps outlined by Kubler Ross (1969) include denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. They are meant to help one to learn to live with the loss of a spouse or any loved one. These are tools that help one to pick out what feeling one is experiencing. However, they should not be construed to provide some linear timeline in the period of grief. It should additionally be noted that not everyone goes through all the steps highlighted (Kubler-Ross, 1969).
Denial
The denial stage normally takes a short period. Many people begin to accept it soon after they enter bereavement. At this point, a widow may be helped by guiding them to embrace reality because denial gives the opportunity to absorb the fact and start processing it gradually.
Anger
Anger is when the feelings of the earlier stages are released in an outburst of grief and are directed at anyone in sight. Help for a widow here calls for guiding them to think rationally regarding the developments and feel what she has been trying to brush aside.
Bargaining
Bargaining is when a person clings to unfounded hope, even in the face of glaring facts. It may come out openly in the form of panic or show with an inner conversation unnoticed by other people. A widow can be helped at this point by counseling them to accept the reality of the loss of her spouse.
Depression
Anyone who experiences loss naturally experiences depression. To assist a widow to overcome…
…from parent and extended family
The spouse’s loss or a loved one causes turmoil to the family setup. Seeking help from parents of members of the extended family may be helpful with needs such as school fees, housing, financial matters, and handling the various complicated emotions. However, there is a need to develop a long term plan for the sake of sustainability, particularly with financial sources and housing.
Helping children
There is a demand to give attention to the following aspects when the support is directed at a child. It is important to be aware that grief incorporates physical, behavioral, emotional, and cognitive responses to loss (Kronaizl, 2019). Grieving children like to ask questions. They should be provided with an environment in which they can ask questions freely and get honest answers. Thus, they need to be treated with honesty and openness, provided with accurate information that is also sensitive to their developmental stage, and be offered a role model to manage their emotions. Children's conception of death should be put in perspective and guided as appropriate, and the import of the overall loss explained (Kronaizl, 2019).
Conclusion
The relationship between life quality, how one is assisted in coping, their ability to maintain a stable internal environment, and related predictors are based on the coping of widows to loss, the balance of intimacy, and how long they lasted in grief.…
Sample Source(s) Used
References
Alvariza, A., Häger-Tibell, L., Holm, M., Steineck, G., & Kreicbergs, U. (2020). Increasing preparedness for caregiving and death in family caregivers of patients with severe illness who are cared for at-home–study protocol for a web-based intervention. BMC palliative care, 19(1), 1-8.
Glazer, H. R., Clark, M. D., Thomas, R., & Haxton, H. (2010). Parenting after the death of a spouse. American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine®, 27(8), 532-536.
Jones, E., Oka, M., Clark, J., Gardner, H., Hunt, R., & Dutson, S. (2019). Lived experience of young widowed individuals: A qualitative study. Death Studies, 43(3), 183-192.
Kronaizl, S. G. (2019). Discussing death with children: A developmental approach. Pediatric Nursing, 45(1), 47-50.
Kubler-Ross, E. (1969). On Death and Dying. New York: The MacMillan Company.
Madsen, R., Birkelund, R., & Uhrenfeldt, L. (2019). Transition experiences during courses of incurable cancer from the perspective of bereaved spouses. European Journal of Oncology Nursing, 38, 28-35.
Turner, M., King, C., Milligan, C., Thomas, C., Brearley, S. G., Seamark, D., & Payne, S. (2016). Caring for a dying spouse at the end of life:‘It's one of the things you volunteer for when you get married': a qualitative study of the oldest carers' experiences. Age and ageing, 45(3), 421-426.
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