Abstract
BackgroundCompanion animal death is a common source of grief, although the extent and context of that grief is poorly understood, especially in older adulthood. The aim of this multiple-methods study was to develop a greater understanding of the impact of companion animal death on older women living alone in the community, as older women are a distinct at-risk group, and the supports that should be available to help these individuals with their grief.MethodsParticipants were recruited from across Alberta, a Canadian province, through seniors’ organizations, pet rescue groups, and social media groups of interest to older women. After completing a pre-interview online questionnaire to gain demographic information and standardized pet attachment and grief measures data, participants were interviewed through the Zoom ® computer program or over the telephone. An interpretive description methodology framed the interviews, with Braun and Clarke’s 6-phase analytic method used for thematic analysis of interview data.ResultsIn 2020, twelve participants completed the pre-interview questionnaires and nine went on to provide interview data for analysis. All were older adult (age 55+) women, living alone in the community, who had experienced the death of a companion animal in 2019. On the standardized measures, participants scored highly on attachment and loss, but low on guilt and anger. The interview data revealed three themes: catastrophic grief and multiple major losses over the death of their companion animal, immediate steps taken for recovery, and longer-term grief and loss recovery.ConclusionsThe findings highlight the importance of acknowledging and addressing companion animal grief to ensure the ongoing well-being and thus the sustained successful aging-in-place of older adult women in the community.
Highlights
Companion animal death is a common source of grief, the extent and context of that grief is poorly understood, especially in older adulthood
What I realized when I ... slept better with having the dogs with me.”. The aim of this multiple-methods study was to develop a greater understanding of the impact of companion animal (CA) death on older women living alone in the community, as well as the supports that should be available to help these individuals with their grief so as to support their personal well-being and maintain successful aging-in-place
Without social and emotional support, the risk of prolonged or complicated grief exists for older women [1], especially considering the extent of the loss that could be assumed given the high scores found for “Love” on the Pet Attachment and Life-Impact Questionnaire (PALS) and for “Grief” on the Pet Bereavement Questionnaire (PBQ). These findings suggest that greater societal knowledge and acceptance of CA-based grief, facilitated emotional support, and socially-endorsed grief rituals, along with improvements in the advertising and perhaps availability of formal bereavement supports, appear necessary to ensure the well-being and successful aging-in-place of older adult women living alone after the loss of a CA
Summary
Companion animal death is a common source of grief, the extent and context of that grief is poorly understood, especially in older adulthood. CA grief is poorly understood by those responsible for providing social support services or healthcare interventions and by friends and family members [7,8,9,10,11,12,13]. This knowledge gap is highly concerning given that CAs appear to be an international reality. Appropriate services for older people are needed for grief of all kinds to reduce the risk of institutionalization through enabling successful aging-in-place
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