Elderly widowers in a family practice setting.

Twenty-one elderly widowers were surveyed in a pilot study in a family practice setting to determine their psycho-emotional, social, and medical needs pre- and post-bereavement. Compared to the low psycho-emotional distress group, the widowers in the high distress group (1) were seeing their family doctors more often, (2) were less likely to belong to a community organization, (3) were more recently bereaved, (4) had more people supporting them, and (5) were more likely to indicate that they would participate in a self-help program for elderly widowers.