2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Research on Grief Care for Husbands Who Cared for and Endured Death of Their Wives at Home

Research Project

PDF

Project/Area Number	18K10589
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Section	一般
Review Section	Basic Section 58080:Gerontological nursing and community health nursing-related
Research Institution	Teikyo University of Science & Technology
Principal Investigator	Onishi Naoko 帝京科学大学, 医療科学部, 教授 (60438538)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	小山千加代新潟医療福祉大学, 看護学部, 教授 (50597242) 田中博子帝京科学大学, 医療科学部, 准教授 (60513976) 田中樹帝京科学大学, 医療科学部, 講師 (00804189)
Project Period (FY)	2018-04-01 – 2022-03-31
Keywords	ターミナルケア / グリーフ / 看取り / 夫 / 死別
Outline of Final Research Achievements	Purpose: Characteristics of end-of-life care provided at home by husbands to their wives. Method: Interviews were conducted with visiting nurses (N=9) that had experience of supporting such husbands since the time when the wives were alive. The content of the interviews was analyzed using the Grounded Theory Approach. The results indicated that characteristics of end-of-life care provided by husbands composed of the following categories: “condition of marital life,” “continuing the unusual life,” “thinness of the connection,” and “grief suppressed.” Notably, the long-term conditions of marital life were considered important for husbands’ recovery from grief and rebuilding their life. It is suggested that visiting nurses should provide support in the period of end-of-life care so that the couples can realize desirable methods of end-of-life care according to the condition of their marital life.
Free Research Field	ターミナルケア
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	配偶者との「死別」は、男性よりも女性の方が遺される割合が高い。そのため、日本では、配偶者と死別した男性より女性に対する支援が主とされてきた。しかし、配偶者との死別は、年齢・性別を問わず、人生においてはストレスフルな出来事であり、悲嘆からの回復には個人差とともに性差も関係しており、妻を亡くした夫が、死別後の悲嘆からの立ち直りに問題を抱える割合が高いと報告されている。そのため、在宅で妻を介護し死別した夫に焦点をあてて、妻の看取り期の夫の状況を知ることは、死別後、夫が生活再建をするにあたっての支援に役立つと考えられる。