The Gerontologist, Vol 34, Issue 2 224-230, Copyright © 1994 by The Gerontological Society of America

ARTICLES

Salient themes in the life review of a sample of frail elderly respondents in London

P O'Connor
College of Humanities, University of Limerick, Ireland.

Over the past 20 years increasing attention has been paid to women's experience of their lives, in the context of the life review (Wallace, 1992) and the whole general process of account making (Weber, 1992). However, there has been an implicit expectation that feelings of loss will be "resolved" (Wortman & Silver, 1989). Drawing on material from 134 in-depth interviews with frail elderly Social Service Department clients in North London, this article questions this idea by illustrating the salience of loss in their life review.