Psychological adjustment to spousal bereavement in older adults: a systematic review

Research articles examining psychological adjustment to spousal bereavement in older adults (65+) were identified through searches on five electronical databases alongside forward citation and reference list searches. A total of 15 articles involving 686 unique participants were identified. Five characteristics were discovered which can facilitate and inhibit psychological adjustment to spousal bereavement in older adults: the pre-loss spousal relationship, social support, finding meaning and spirituality in loss, the surviving spouse’s personality traits, and death characteristics. These findings support that concepts of ‘meaning making’ and social support should be incorporated into therapeutic work with bereaved spouses to help facilitate psychological adjustment.