International Journal of Advanced Research in Management and Social Sciences

This paper presents a detailed study on how the retired and bereaved population in Kerala experiencing emotional issues within and outside their family and the means they employed to solve them considering the importance of existing supporting systems, especially family. The major research problem highlighted in this report is the assessment of responses or reactions of the elderly widows towards the multitude of problems emerged from their retirement, diminishing income, hike in healthcare costs, and the attitude of family members after their retirement. It made an attempt to enquire about the extent of mental/emotional issues faced by the elderly widows in Kerala together with a brief understanding on their socio-economic and demographic profile.

A total of ‘69’ widows retired from any of the office under the government of Kerala were selected through convenience sampling. An interview schedule has been employed for eliciting information from the respondents in addition to casual observations and informal conversations.

Though the study mainly focused on elderly widows, it has shown light in to the fact how the age difference acted upon their perception about ageing, widowhood, and extent of emotional issues experiencing and the ways and means of solving them. They are continuing a solitary life in the middle of kith and kin often adorning the status of head of the family. These trends aggravates day by day at a differential level not only in urban households but also in rural settings. Though many community organizations and welfare agencies existed, they fail to sort out the issues and seldom reach the crux of problem.

The studies described in this document add to what is known about the vulnerability of elderly widows in Kerala in its every context and dimension. This is a significant extension to the work done which has hitherto largely been restricted to the field of social gerontology. The discussion on the findings concluded that age, education and occupational history has no significance in the mental health and emotional state of elderly widows. More specifically, widows of all ages experiencing the same form of issues in an identical way.