Program Area: Behavioral and Social Sciences

Life After Loss: Emerging Insights on Grief Adjustment and Health in Late Life

Chair(s)

• 

  Emily Mroz, PhD

  Postdoctoral Fellow
  Internal Medicine
  Yale University
  New Haven, Connecticut, United States

Co-Chair(s)

• 

  Sara Hackett, PhD

  Assistant Professor Of Instruction
  School of Aging Studies
  University of South Florida
  Tampa, Florida, United States

Discussant(s)

• DC

  Deborah Carr, PhD, FGSA (she/her/hers)

  Professor of Sociology and Director, Center for Innovation in Social Science
  Sociology and Center for Innovation in Social Science
  Boston University
  Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Individual Symposium Abstract First Author(s)

• 

  Emily Mroz, PhD

  Postdoctoral Fellow
  Internal Medicine
  Yale University
  New Haven, Connecticut, United States
• 

  Sara Hackett, PhD

  Assistant Professor Of Instruction
  School of Aging Studies
  University of South Florida
  Tampa, Florida, United States
• 

  Holly Prigerson, PhD

  Professor of Geriatrics/Co-Director Cornell Center for Research on End-of-Life Care
  Medicine
  Weill Cornell Medicine
  New York City, New York, United States
• 

  Danielle McDuffie, MA

  Graduate Student Researcher/Psychology Intern
  Psychology
  The University of Alabama/ Durham VAMC
  Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States

Recent scholarship recognizes that grief adjustment is not a staged, linear process. In late life, the loss of close others is common and dynamic. However, little is known about the ‘ripple effects’ from loss experiences. As people are living longer, it is important to gain insight regarding how loss is processed, carried, and used for self-direction. This symposium responds to GSA’s 2022 meeting theme of “Reimagining Aging” by presenting emerging research which reimagines grief adjustment across diverse populations. To begin, Sara Hackett, PhD will share her work on the continuing bonds of older conjugally bereaved women and how they shape perceptions about repartnering. Following, Emily Mroz, PhD will present on affective sequences in final memories from past spousal loss and demonstrate how sequences predict future caregiving confidence in these widowed older adults. Danielle McDuffie, MA will add to this rich discussion by shedding light on predictors of bereavement and grief outcomes specific to Black adults. Last, Holly Prigerson, PhD will outline unmet psychological needs of family caregivers of patients who die in ICU settings and present her work on EMPOWER, an intervention aimed to reduce psychological distress and foster caregiver adjustment across the loss experience in this setting. Stephanie Wladkowski, PhD, our discussant, will tie these perspectives together, facilitating an important dialogue regarding classic and newly-considered impacts of grief in late life. Further, she will discuss how through more closely examining peoples’ experiences during and after loss, we can recognize late-life bereavement as shaping self-perceptions, relationships, and mental health.

Presentations:

• 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM ET

  The Guiding Power of Loss Reflection: Final Memories and Future Care
  

  Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Emily L. Mroz, PhD – Yale University
• 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM ET

  Continuing Bonds or Unbreakable Vows?: Conjugally Bereaved Women's Perceptions About Repartnering
  

  Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Sara E. Hackett, PhD – University of South Florida
• 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM ET

  Psychological Responses to Impending and Past Loss of a Loved One
  

  Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Holly G. Prigerson, PhD – Weill Cornell Medicine
• 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM ET

  How Do Interpersonal Factors Affect Grief Among Black Middle- to Older-Aged Adults?
  

  Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Danielle L. McDuffie, MA – The University of Alabama/ Durham VAMC