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Themes of Suffering in Later Life

¹ Polisher Research Institute, Jenkintown, Pennsylvania.
² Department of Sociology and Anthropology and Doctoral Program in Gerontology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Address correspondence to Helen K. Black, Thomas Jefferson University, Community Home Healthcare Research, 130 S. 9th Street, Suite 515, Philadelphia, PA 19107. E-mail: helen.black{at}Jefferson.edu

Objectives. This qualitative research study explored the personal meaning of suffering to a group of 40 community-dwelling elders, stratified by gender and race.

Methods. We recruited 40 informants who were 70 years old or older from the Philadelphia, PA, area for extended qualitative interviews, which elicited their life story and experiences and philosophies about suffering. Cells contained 10 African American men and women and 10 European American men and women each (N = 40). Through analysis of data, we placed elders' experiences of suffering under three general themes: suffering as lack of control, suffering as loss, and the value of suffering.

Results. Informants developed a unique definition, attribution, theory, and theodicy about suffering based on the particularity of the experience as well as how they "fit" suffering into their lives as a whole. Brief case studies illustrate how themes emerged in elders' stories of suffering.

Discussion. On the basis of this research, it appears that, although they have some similarities, elders' experiences of suffering are unique and incomparable. Similarities concern informants' connection of suffering with finitude. The incomparability of suffering experiences relate to informants' unique personal histories, perceptions, and "cause" of suffering. Through the process of the interview, elders connect the suffering experience to the entirety of the life lived and the story of suffering to the life story.