Page 52 - IJPS-10-2

International Journal of
Population Studies Experience of bereavement by suicide in later life

who had been bereaved by suicide (Hafford-Letchfield of the key themes have been reported elsewhere (Hafford-
et al., 2022b), we have explored the potential of informal Letchfield et al., 2022b), documenting the moral injury in
learning for developing and promoting the impact of the aftermath of experiencing a loss by suicide, distressing
research and associated community-based social support. psychological, social, and behavioral impact on experiences.
The convergence of the lifelong learning agenda with social These themes captured the negative reactions from people
policy and social care has been shown to have potential in the bereaved person’s network and the impacts on
by increasing interrelated and overlapping activity in both significant others in the immediate aftermath and longer-
future policy and practice (Hafford-Letchfield, 2010; 2016), term, and the poignant and significant experiences in the
particularly given the emphasis on engaging with lived personal journey of the bereaved person in later life. Within
experience (NSUN, 2015). Given the continuous challenge these reported themes, participants shared reflections
of sustainability in the care and support of older people and about their own future, motivation, mortality, and accounts
the economic and mental health impact of the COVID-19 of help seeking and how they navigated transition and
pandemic (Wand et al., 2020), meaningful engagement with adaptation while still “living with the experience” in later
a holistic perspective and different strategies is required life (Hafford-Letchfield et al., 2022b).
to shape and drive social change. Learning theorists for In this paper, we returned to this latter area and
example have explored the way in which learning take place conducted further analysis on the subthemes of
and seek to locate learning within its social, economic, and “transformation” which often coincided with individuals’
political context (Jarvis, 2001; Soulsby, 2014). Learning sense making of their experiences and their articulation
in later life is often put forward as product of interaction of these alongside themes of activism and leadership
and as an interactive and interpretation process (Percy, with their peers through shared lived experience of being
1990), which makes it useful for achieving a genuine bereaved by suicide. The analysis and discussion drew on
participatory approach toward the quality of experience of Mezirow’s theories of transformational learning (Mezirow,
older people using social care. Grappling with how people 2000; Mezirow & Taylor, 2009), specifically “perspective
voice the sophistication of their desires around the themes transformation” as a reference for illustrating the potential
of independence, dependence, and interdependence is of learning from within a critical paradigm of social
one way of operationalizing concepts of lifelong learning. care and social support to bring about change. Given
Further, recognizing and valuing learning as a means of the documented experiences of navigating and adapting
improving the quality of support and through participation to traumatic loss, we considered how the centrality of
has been asserted as an under-explored means to experience, critical reflection, meaning making, and the
demonstrate transformational change (Hafford-Letchfield importance of relationships interacted with this journey
& Formosa, 2016; Hafford-Letchfield, 2010; 2016). and intersected with participants aging experiences.
The following questions were formulated: (i) How do
older people bereaved by suicide describe any process 2. Data sources and methods
of learning from their traumatic experiences? (ii) What This was a qualitative study which adopted a thematic
process of transformation, if any, was evident as they analysis based on descriptive phenomenology (Sundler
adapted to this specific traumatic experience in later life et al., 2019) to explore the substantive issues. This research
and where there was evidence of transformation, what adopted collaborative study design and involved two trained
factors shaped the transformational learning process? peer researchers aged <60 years with lived experience
(iii) How can transformative learning theory, practice, and of bereavement by suicide to conduct interviews. The
research help to understand the support needs of people researchers were equal partners in data analysis as well
bereaved by suicide in their later life and if so, what are the as reporting and discussion of the themes. The richness
implications for development of practice and research in from the expertise by experience provided a deeper
suicide prevention? These questions were used as guidelines understanding to generate and enable findings that could
to explore the data for critical themes and features evident promote the accessibility of research by grounding data
in the meaning making, coping, and adaptation needs of collection in the experiences of those being researched and
people in later life who have been bereaved by suicide. producing more relevant and practice-oriented knowledge
(Berring et al., 2016; Devota et al., 2016; Faulkner et al.,
1.2. Background to the study 2021; MacIntyre et al., 2019).
The study was conducted in 2021 and explored the
perspectives and experiences of 24 bereaved-by-suicide 2.1. Sample and data collection
people aged 60 – 94 years, and how this impacted their The target population of this study comprised people living
specific support needs and help-seeking in later life. Some in the UK, with experience of the loss of a significant other

Volume 10 Issue 2 (2024) 46 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.0777