Project Duration
01 April 2014 - 30 September 2015
Funder
British Academy/Leverhulme small grant
Project Staff
- Glenys Caswell (PI) 1
- Morna O'Connor 1
Staff Institutions
- The University of Nottingham
Aims
to pilot sociological autopsy as a methodology to explore the phenomenon of dying alone at home.
Objectives
- Improve understanding of circumstances of individuals who live and die alone at home.
- Engage in critical debate with current conceptions of the 'good death'.
- Formulate recommendations for professionals whose work brings them into contact with people who are likely to die alone at home.
Methods
Conduct a pilot study to:
- Test the utility of the sociological autopsy as methodology to explore cases of those individuals who die alone and are later found dead. This will begin with an examination of coroners’ records in 3 cases where individuals have died alone at home. Further data sources will be identified from the records and interviews sought with appropriate professionals, relatives, neighbours and/or friends in order to situate the story told in the records in the wider social context.
- Test feasibility and acceptability of interview recruitment method by interviewing 5 individuals who live alone and have an increased chance of dying alone at home. Participants will be recruited through a gatekeeper, e.g. hospice discharge team. The acceptability of the interview guide will be explored with participants. Five health professionals will also be interviewed to explore their experience and views.
The final stage will be to write a funding application to carry out the full research project
Stage of Development
An advisory group has been established, comprising academic and lay members.
Documentation for potential research participants has been reviewed and commented upon by members of the Patient and Public Involvement group.
The proposal is currently undergoing review by the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Ethics Committee, prior to the commencement of data collection.
Data collection will commence in the summer of 2015.
Return to NCARE
Contact the team
Publications
Literature on lone deaths
Adams, J. & Johnson, J (2008) ‘Older people “found dead” at home: challenges for the coroner system in England and Wales’, Mortality, 13(4) 351-360.Kellehear, A. (2009) ‘Dying old – and preferably alone? Agency, resistance and dissent at the end of life’. International Journal of Ageing and Later Life, 4(1), 5-21.
Seale, C. (1995) ‘Dying alone’. Sociology of Health & Illness, 17(3), 376-392.
Policy documents
Bradshaw J, Clifton M, Kennedy J (1978) Found dead a study of old people found dead. London: Age Concern.
Howse, K (1997) Deaths of people alone. London: Centre for Policy of Ageing.
Literature on Sociological Autopsy method
Fincham, B., Langer, S., Scourfield, J. & Shiner, M. (2011). Understanding suicide: a sociological autopsy. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Scourfield, J., Fincham, B., Langer, S. & Shiner, M. (2012). Sociological autopsy: An integrated approach to the study of suicide in men. Social Science and Medicine, 74 (4), 466-473.
Media coverage
How could this woman lie dead and undiscovered for almost three years? The Guardian, 9th October, 2011.
Nobody cared when they were alive or mourned when they died alone. The Guardian, 17th August, 2008.
Britain has been voted the loneliness capital of Europe – so how did we become so isolated? The independent, 26th June, 2014.
Anyone can die alone – not just the lonely.The Guardian, 27th June, 2014.