This cross-cultural study will investigate how widows cope with their problems--with widowhood itself, with strains and changes in the realms of family, work, personality and finances--and how effective coping is related to perceived health. The research will take the form of an in-depth, longitudinal study of older, low income urban widows of these three ethnic groups--Mexican American Indian and Anglo--in Tucson, Arizona, following the women through the first two years of widowhood. Conducted under the auspices of the Southwest Institute for Research on Women, a regional research center that specifically facilitates interdisciplinary, collaborative research, the project involves a team that includes scholars from the disciplines of sociology, nursing, anthropology, psychiatric social work, and geriatric medicine. The research will address four specific questions. What strategies are most effective in enabling older widows to cope with stress? What are the characteristics of successful copers? To what degree and how is coping related to changes in perceived health? How do cultural differences influence coping abilities? Data to answer these questions will be collected through interviews with 150 widows, 30-60 from each of the three ethinic groups. All will be over age 40, widowed less than four months at the time of the first interview, and identified with assistance from community agencies that serve low income populations. Information will be collected on three measures of perceived health (functional, symptom, and feeling state), on life change, life strains, perceived stress, coping strategies and their perceived effectiveness, social network support, personal resources and attitudes, and past coping. Second and third interviews will obtain information about changes in perceived health, life changes, life strains, and coping strategies during the previous six months. Data will be analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively, primarily through the use of non-parametric statistics and log-linear contingency analysis. The results of the research will be disseminated through scholarly articles, conference papers and reports to assisting community health agencies. The results will assist development of health and social service programs responsive to diverse ethinic groups and contribute to knowledge of successful aging.
| Jones, E G; Kay, M (1992) Instrumentation in cross-cultural research. Nurs Res 41:186-8 |
