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THE GUIDING POWER OF LOSS REFLECTION: FINAL MEMORIES AND FUTURE CARE


 The life story framework emphasizes that past loss experiences guide current attitudes and behaviors. Final memories from the death of a spouse promote post-loss meaning-making. Through reliable narrative analysis, this study delineates positive and negative affective sequences in final memories from spousal loss in older adults (N = 65; Mage = 81.59). It also examines reported confidence in successfully caring for another seriously ill close other the future. Results demonstrate that 62% of participants narrated their final memories with affect, and 38% told semantic, affectively neutral narratives. Additionally, those who narrated positive or neutral final memories exhibited more confidence in future caregiving than those who narrated negative memories, t = 2.24, p < .05. As care systems are increasingly reliant on family members to provide car for the seriously ill, links between past loss experiences, current caregiving confidence, and future care mastery emerge as areas of research prioritization.