SPOUSAL CAREGIVING FOLLOWING INSTITUTIONALIZATION - THE EXPERIENCE OFELDERLY WIVES

A large body of research reveals the contribution of families to the c are of elderly and health-impaired community-dwelling individuals. Les s is known about the contribution of families to the provision of care following the admission of elderly relatives to a long-term care inst itution. Still less is known of the experience of elderly wives follow ing the institutionalization of their husbands. The purpose of this pa per is to increase nurses' awareness, through a review of the literatu re on family caregiving in later life, of the contribution to care mad e by elderly wives following the institutionalization of their husband s. We also hope to provide direction for clinicians with respect to th e needs and concerns of wives, particularly at the time of, and follow ing, the admission of their husbands to long-term care institutions.