COPING WITH LOSS - DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WIDOWS AND WIDOWERS OF DECEASED CANCER-PATIENTS

This study compares the adjustment to loss on the part of forty-three widows and twenty-four widowers, all former spouses of patients who di ed of cancer. The patients and the families were treated at the Unit f or Home Care of the Oncological Institute in the Linn Clinic in Haifa as well as in various hospitals in Haifa for the terminally ill. The m ain findings indicate that widows of patients who died of cancer suffe r more than widowers. This can be learned by comparing the psychologic al (BSI), psychosocial (PAIS) and behavioral subscales (TRIG) of adjus tment, and from ANOVA analyses of the three scales.