Communication and Silence Surrounding the Experience of Bereavement of Older Adults Living in Seniors’ Residences

As they age, many seniors leave their homes to live in a seniors’ residence. Since those residences are both living environments and places where death happens from time to time, seniors who live there will be confronted to the loss of other residents. How is grief experienced by seniors in this setting? Research on this topic has been close to nonexistent. As part of a qualitative research project, we met 26 individuals older than the age of 65 years who had experienced the loss of another resident. Following our interviews, we conducted a thematic analysis of the data. Our results show that communication practices surrounding end of live and death vary from one seniors’ residence to the next. We highlight the strengths and limitations of these practices as well as their impacts on bereaved seniors. We discuss the ways in which our participants felt their grief was considered by others, look at the meanings of silence and communication and reflect on potential intervention strategies.