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Does Mutual Help Facilitate Newly Bereaved Widowers?

Report of a Randomized Controlled Trial

John Hilditch

Joanne A. Permaul

Sunnybrook Health Science Centre

Diana J. McKendree

Private Practice, Toronto

Studies have demonstrated the efficacy of mutual-help interventions for bereaved women, but there have been no controlled intervention studies of this type for men. The objective of this study was to assess the efficacy of a mutualhelp group intervention for new widowers, using a randomized controlled design. A community sample of 113 recruited widowers bereaved less than 12 months were randomly allocated into treatment (n = 61) and waitinglist control groups (n = 52). Treatment consisted of nine weekly semistructured peer group sessions, which focused on the griefprocess, diet, new relationships, exercise, and life-style issues. Analysis of variance of three psychological measures (GeneralHealth Questionnaire, Beck Depression Inventory, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) and three social measures (Social Adjustment Scale, Social Support Questionnaire for both availability and satisfaction) showed significant improvement over time for all subjects, but no significant differences between the two groups over the observation period (baseline to 8 months). Possible reasons for no treatment effect include: men may take longer than anticipated to work through their grief with a delay in any measurable effect; the more recovered men dropped out early; and focusing widowers' attention on their own and others'grief may hinder an early (and measurable) recovery from their grief

Evaluation & the Health Professions, Vol. 15, No. 2, 147-162 (1992)
DOI: 10.1177/016327879201500202


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