Darbe pateikiama samprata apie našlių pensijų sistemą, jos struktūrą, teoriškai pagrindžiami ir pateikiami Lietuvos socialinės saugos teisei būdingų našlių pensijų modeliai.Sistemos reformos kryptys analizuojamos, remiantis našlių subjektinių teisių įgyvendinimo analize. Paliečiami socialinio teisingumo aspektai, skiriant valstybines našlių pensijas bei nustatant valstybinių socialinio draudimo našlių pensijų dydį. Pateikiama našlių namų ūkių disponuojamų pajamų analizė. Socialinės politikos plotmėje nagrinėjami našlių socialinio saugumo užtikrinimo garantai. Reziumuojama, kad didelė našlių dalis iš valstybės negauna socialinės paramos. Lietuvos socialinės apsaugos teisėje n��ra našlių paramos modelio. Darbo pabaigoje pateikiamos išvados ir pasiūlymai iškeltoms teisinio reguliavimo problemoms spręsti. / The paper provides the conception of systems of state social insurance, state and social support benefits applied in the Lithuanian social security system. Based on the analysis of legal acts, the structure of the widows‘ pension system is being defined. The paper gives theoretical substantiation of and provides widows‘ pension models typical for the Lithuanian social security system. Aiming to reveal complexity and problems of the widows‘ pension system, legal regulation of widows‘ pensions and rent are being analysed in detail. There is also a review of conditions and requirements for the deceased and their spouses set out in the legal acts. Assumptions of the reform of widows‘ pension system are based on three problematic aspects: is the support provided realised following the principles of state social insurance and provision of the state and social suppport benefits; are the subjective rights of widows to support in case of widowhood approached to equivalently; is social justice retained in contribution of budget means. Trends of the reform of widows‘ pension system are analysed based on the analysis of implementation of subjective rights of widows. The paper touches aspects of social justice in assignation of widows‘ pensions and in determination of the amount of state social insurance widows‘ pensions. Widows‘ social security assurance is being analysed in the plane of social policy. It may be concluded that a great number of widows receive no benefits from the state... [to full text]

The number of single-parent families has increased dramatically in the world. In South Africa, this increase has partly been due to the increased number of deaths as a result of the AIDS pandemic. The purpose of this study is to explore experiences of widowers as single parents. The study proposes to elevate the view of single-parent families, which classes them as stereotypes of victimization, to where such families come to represent responsible archetypes. Unstructured in-depth interviews were used to obtain data from two Black and two White widowed single fathers. Thematic content analysis was utilized to identify emerging themes from the fathers' stories. Fathers in this study challenged the deficit model's view of single parenting which claims that these families are broken. As far as its applicability is concerned, this study may be beneficial to psychotherapists, single parents and society as a whole. / Psychology / M.A.(Clinical Psychology)

The number of single-parent families has increased dramatically in the world. In South Africa, this increase has partly been due to the increased number of deaths as a result of the AIDS pandemic. The purpose of this study is to explore experiences of widowers as single parents. The study proposes to elevate the view of single-parent families, which classes them as stereotypes of victimization, to where such families come to represent responsible archetypes. Unstructured in-depth interviews were used to obtain data from two Black and two White widowed single fathers. Thematic content analysis was utilized to identify emerging themes from the fathers' stories. Fathers in this study challenged the deficit model's view of single parenting which claims that these families are broken. As far as its applicability is concerned, this study may be beneficial to psychotherapists, single parents and society as a whole. / Psychology / M.A.(Clinical Psychology)

In later life, the death of a family member occurs most often after a challenging time of family caring. It denotes a dramatic event in families’ lives, and involves intense feelings for all. To date, bereavement has mainly been investigated as an intrapersonal process from the perspective of family carers or widow/ers. Little is known about families’ experience when an adult member has died. A review of pertinent literature located only six adult family bereavement studies, which exposed the importance of family cohesion, communication and emotion, and found that family characteristics denote the background from which families make sense of the death. Despite these insights, a dearth of research exists about families’ lived relational world after a death late in life. Such knowledge is needed to better grasp bereaved families’ life-world and to discern their capacities and adversities, which shape their support needs. The purpose of this hermeneutic-phenomenological inquiry was to disclose meaning patterns and practices of families living with the loss of a close other. It included ten bereaved community-dwelling families, represented by widow/ers (mean age 80y), adult children, in-laws and grandchildren (n=30). Family was defined as a situated, relational involvement by those who feel close, and living with loss was seen as a process of changing relationships. A combination of in-depth family group (n=21) and solo interviews (n=16) were held six to 23 months after the death, and field-notes were written. The thematic and narrative analysis, embedded in a hermeneutic movement, involved reading, reflecting, and writing about gleaned data, fore-understandings, and emerging insights. Findings revealed that families’ life with loss is a world shared, and a world apart. Families collectively looked back to weave the death into their family narrative, and in so doing, constructed a story of a good death, compared-contrasted it with other deaths and events, and situated it within their multi-generational family context. Families lived with their loss by sharing-not sharing interpretations and daily lives. They connected via remembering, talking, spend-ing time, and enacting presence, but they disconnected for a variety of reasons. Families moved forward by continuing or reconstructing their family being and doing. While some families faced upheaval, others continued with little change. These findings need to be seen as situated, temporal constructs of prolonged researcher-participant engagements. They yield insights into families’ world based on the accounts of ten traditional families. Even so, this study adds a much needed empirical family perspective on bereavement. Family relations arose as interplay of different, contradicting forces at play, which moved members together and apart in their daily lives with loss. As such, it supports family models that emphasize the multivocal, relational, contextual, and continuously shifting nature of family health. It revealed that families hold an inherent capacity to make meaning of the death and enact family thereafter, and understand their relationships as resource. Thus, families may not need professional therapeutic interventions to redress their “functioning” or to avert “adverse” outcomes, but health promoting and relationship-strengthening care and services. Nurses can be helpful to families by facilitating meaning-making, strengthening family relations in a way that values multiple voices at play, and by supporting family transition and caring in light of present concerns.

Losing a spouse is as devastating an experience anyone will ever deal with in his or her life. Research, however, shows that men have a harder and longer time coping with the loss of a spouse than women. When the widower’s profession is farming, there are no resources to specifically help that individual with their loss. The purpose of this research was to gain insight into the lives of widowed farmers with particular focus on transitions in their farming operation and their family life. Through their stories, we learn what is happening before the loss of the female spouse on the farm, during the bereavement period, and how the farmer handles the situation after the bereavement period has ended. Findings indicate that the Cooperative Extension Service can play a major role in supporting our widowed farmers as they seek a new normal for their farm operation and family life. Also, farming widowers have more stress following the loss of a spouse due to the added aspect of managing the farm and the home simultaneously after the passing of their spouse. Recommendations include further expanding spousal bereavement materials to include a section for males and in particular farming widowers.

Studiens syfte är att undersöka vad forskningen säger om äldre individers reaktioner och behov av stöd vid förlust av livskamrat. Som metod används en allmän litteraturöversikt. Som teori används Aaron Antonovskys begrepp KASAM, känsla av sammanhang.  Individer som är 65 år och äldre tillhör en växande grupp i samhället och enligt beräkningar kommer 25 procent av den svenska befolkningen inom kort att vara över 65 år. 20 procent av alla äldre individer lever med någon form av psykisk ohälsa och reducerad livskvalité som följd av exempelvis närståendes död, oönskad ensamhet och/eller problem med den fysiska hälsan. Med denna allmänna litteraturöversikt tar jag ett samlat grepp av området genom att undersöka, analysera och redogöra för vad forskningen säger om äldre individers reaktioner och behov av stöd vid förlust av livskamrat. Ålderdomen är den tid i livet då individen upplever flest förluster. Trots detta faktum är det andra åldersgrupper än äldre som prioriteras inom sorgestöd. En livskamrats död anses vara en av de mest stressfulla livsövergångarna i en människas liv.Hur den äldre individen reagerar och hanterar förlusten är avhängigt av många faktorer, exempelvis ekonomiska och sociala. Vissa äldre tar sig igenom sorgeprocessen andra ”fastnar” i sin sorg så pass allvarligt att de behöver hjälp att ta sig vidare. Några går till och med stärkta ur detta. Antonovsky (2005) menar att huruvida denna stressor blir sjukdom, hälsa eller något däremellan beror på hur pass framgångsrik hanteringenav denna spänning är. Just detta är självakärnan i studiens resultat gällande äldre individers reaktioner vid förlust av livskamrat.I de fall då dödsfallet föregåtts av en sjukdomsperiod kan den efterlevande även uppleva en känsla av lättnad,minskad stressoch färredepressiva symtomdå hen inte behöver se sin partner lida längre. Denna aspekt visar en del av den komplexiteten som all sorg består av. Kontakten med familj, vänner och andra närstående har en mycket positiv inverkan på den nyblivna änklingen/änkan då den mildrar de negativa reaktioner som följer med en förlust samt stödjer den äldre individen på dennes väg genom sorg, bearbetning och nyorientering. De positiva följderna av att i ett tryggt sammanhang få möjlighet att dela sina upplevelser med andra, bli mött och bekräftad i sin sorg, såväl av närstående som personer som den sörjande möter i stödinsatser inom ramen för socialt arbete är själva essenseni studiens resultat gällande äldre individers behov av stöd vid förlust av livskamrat. / The purpose of this study is to examine what research says about the reactions and the needs of the elderly for support when losing their life companion. The method used is a general literary overview and the theory is Aaron Antonovsky´s term sense of coherence, SOC. Individuals of 65 years and older are an increasing part of the population. According to calculations, the group of people over the age of 65 will soon be 25 per cent of the Swedish population. 20 per cent of the elderly suffer from some kind of mental health issue and decreased quality of life, due to the death of a close relative, unwanted loneliness and/or physical health issues. With this general literary overview I am giving an overall picture of the topic through examining, analysing and explaining the research results on the reactions and needs of the elderly for support when losing their life companion. When people are of old age, that is the time of life when they suffer from most losses. Despite this fact, other age groups are prioritized to receive grief support. The death of a life companion is considered one of the most stressful life transitions. How an elderly person reacts and copes with the loss, depends on several factors, including economic and social.Some of the elderly manage to go through the process of grieving, whilst others get stuck in their grief so severely that they need help to be able to move forward in life. Some even grow stronger from the experience. Antonovsky (2005) claims that whether this stress factor transforms into illness, health or something in between, depends on how successful the person is in coping with this tension. Exactly this is the very essence of the result of this study regarding the elderly´s reactions when losing a life companion. In those cases when death has been preceded by a period of illness, the life partner can even experience relief, decreased stress levels and less symptoms of depression, as they no longer need to witness their partner´s suffering.This aspect makes part of the complexity of all grief visible. Being in contact with family, friends and others who are close has a very positive influence on the widower/widow, as it mitigates the negative reactions associated with bereavement and supports the elderly on their path through grief, processing and reorientation. The positive effects of being able to share their experiences with others in a safe context, being met in their grief, both by family and others within social work support groups, this is the very essence of the result of this study regarding the elderly´s need for support when losing a life companion.