本論文始於研究者本身陪伴八十歲高齡父親，共同經歷母親過世後十四多年的喪偶日子中，透過訪談父親敘說自己與配偶從相識到進入婚姻的過程以及家庭生活經營中夫妻陪伴相隨的過程，還有觀察父親在喪偶後生活中的不斷自我調整及改變。因此，研究者以陪伴父親共同度過喪偶後的生活調適為起點，進而邀請其他十三位高齡研究參與者於喪偶後的日子，藉由敘說人生經驗的過程中，以深入瞭解他們與配偶生前的共同生活經驗以及他們在喪偶後的生活調適，包括他們如何經歷哀傷調適階段與運用內在個人資源的自我調適歷程；還有他們如何掌握外在社會支持系統及學習網絡，以及最後他們如何完成喪偶後的生活重構以及生命意義的詮釋。
本論文共有十四位研究參與者，其中包括七位男性研究參與者以及七位女性研究參與者，他們的年齡介於七十歲至九十六歲之間，他們的配偶皆於他們六十五歲之後過世，他們喪偶的時間介於兩年內、二年至五年間、六年至十年間以及十年以上等共四個不同的時間。研究者將他們各自在一次深度訪談的錄音錄影資料，親自打字謄錄成為逐字稿，並且共同彙整成大約三十萬字的敘說文本，並且對於他們所敘說在人生歷程中不同階段的生活故事，逐一進行敘說研究分析，最後共同彙編成為本研究的五個故事主題，以為本研究結果與討論之五個重點如下：
一者是每位研究參與者的故事小傳，其中每個故事小傳皆有八個字的主題命名以及涵蓋以下幾個階段的故事敘說，包括生長背景、姻緣線圈、庭院深深、陪伴相隨、道別片刻、調適之道、安頓餘生等。
二者是他們與配偶生前的共同生活經驗，亦即他們與配偶姻緣線圈內的陪伴相隨故事，包括姻緣線圈內的婚姻故事、庭院深深的家庭故事以及陪伴相隨的夫妻故事等三部分。其中他們與配偶建立婚姻的方式，包括媒妁之言或親戚介紹的安排婚姻、朋友介紹的交往婚姻、自由戀愛的選擇婚姻、還有預先允諾的約定婚姻。他們與配偶所面臨的家庭挑戰與問題，則可分為三種不同家庭類型，包括核心家庭（小家庭）、本幹家庭（折衷家庭）以及擴展家庭（大家庭）等，核心家庭所面對的家庭問題則包括經濟因素、健康因素、夫妻關係、子女狀況等共四項；本幹家庭所面對的家庭問題則又增加親屬關係、婆媳關係及家庭危機等共七項；擴展家庭所面對的家庭問題則少了家庭危機，又再增加妯娌關係及兄弟關係等共八項。有關他們與配偶互相陪伴的方式，則包括家計共擔、生活關照、心情調適及旅遊陪伴等共四部分。
三者是他們喪偶後的自我調適歷程，亦即他們與配偶道別片刻後的自我調適故事，包括道別片刻的喪偶故事；頓失老伴的哀傷故事以及自我調適的重整故事等三部分。其中他們的配偶過世的原因包括意外死亡、住院不治以及慢性疾病等三種不同原因。他們與配偶道別的方式，可分為親自道別以及知會道別等兩種方式，還有他們所經歷的喪禮儀式過程各有不同，因此他們所呈現喪偶後的哀傷反應階段狀況也不一，包括震驚期的反應、悲傷期的症狀、沈澱期的狀況以及恢復期的情形等四個階段。他們所運用的內在自我調適之道則包括夢境調適、無意再婚、身體保健、自我照顧、心態調整、興趣培養以及代履心願等七個方式。
四者是他們喪偶後所掌握的社會支持及學習網絡，亦即他們在續航前哨站前的整裝再發故事，包括家庭系統、人際網絡、宗教信仰、社區網絡、學習管道、志工服務以及社會福利等七部分。家庭系統則以他們居住狀況及家人支持的情形為考量；人際網絡主討論家庭以外的鄰居或親屬關係之支持系統；宗教信仰則關乎宗教儀式、信仰教義以及聚會團體等部分；社區網絡主要討論村裡老人會以及鄉立的老人日照中心之功能；學習管道則包括正規與非正規的學習方式；志工服務則包含義診志工、長青志工、生命志工、養生志工、醫院志工以及教學志工等；社會福利主要討論政府公部門對於高齡者的補助情形，包括老農津貼、軍人退休俸、八八水災補助等。
五者是他們在喪偶後的生活重構及生命意義的詮釋，亦即他們在安頓餘生中的四平八穩故事，包括生活重構的整合故事、安頓餘生的預備故事以及生命意義的最終詮釋等三部分。有關他們喪偶後的生活重構方式，則以他們喪偶後所呈現的哀傷反應、他們所運用的內在調適之道以及所掌握的外在社會支持及學習管道等三個向度加以討論。有關他們安頓餘生的預備，則包括面對死亡態度、目前生活規劃、遺產安排處理、喪禮儀式的想法以及往生後的盼望等五部分。有關生命意義的最終詮釋的部分，則以十四位研究參與者所呈現四個字的生命主題，包括：回歸自然、交託主權、以身作則、回饋社會、轉念為安、安守本份、反求諸己、心繫子孫、蒙主保守、平穩過活、以子為榮、平安是福、尋根為樂、順從天意等，再次回扣於第一部份有關每位研究參與者的故事小傳之八個字的故事主題命名，以呈現他們回顧人生歷程中的生活重點及人生的主題。
本論文最後根據上述的研究發現，針對高齡者人口政策白皮書，有關高齡化問題對策中所提到「建構有利於高齡者健康、安全及終身學習的友善環境，以維持高齡者活力、尊嚴與自主」為總目標，並且列出因應高齡化社會的八項對策，包括：支持家庭照顧老人、完善老人健康與社會照顧體系、提升老年經濟安全保障、促進中高齡就業與人力資源運用、推動高齡者社會住宅、完善高齡者交通運輸環境、促進高齡者休閒參與以及建構完善高齡教育系統等，逐一提出具體之建議。最後的部分，研究者以自我反思回應整個研究歷程中個人所得到學習、調整及改變，並且對於未來研究之方向規劃。

This dissertation started from the researcher’s experiences when she accompanied her 80-year-old father to go through the over 14 –year days since her 76-year-old mother passed away in 1996. She invited her father to narrate the experiences about the days when he got married to his spouse, as well as about the process how they managed their family lives and coped with the problems and challenges together in the daily lives. In addition, she observed her father closely to figure out how he constantly adjusted himself in the process of self-transformation during the days after losing his life partner. As the beginning point of this dissertation, the researcher invited other 13 elder participants to be interviewed once by each after they lost their spouses at least more than half a year. This dissertation aimed at the goals to deeply understand both their life experiences together dealt with the spouses and their life adjustment after losing their spouses. The latter included the following main points, for example, how they went through stages of the grief adjustment after losing their spouses; how they applied their interior resources as the self-adjustment; how they grasped the exterior social support and the learning networks; as a result, how they built up their new life styles and interpreted their eventual life meanings.
In this dissertation, there were fourteen research participants, including seven male participants and seven female participants. Their age span was between 70 year old and 96 years old. They all lost their spouses after they were over 65 years old as senior citizens. The years for their becoming widows or widowers included four groups, such as in- two years; between two-five years; between six-ten years and over-ten years. The researcher interviewed each participant with tape and video recording; then she typed and transcribed each text personally; finally she collected each text into about 300 thousand Chinese words as the narrative texts. Continuously, she applied the narrative analysis toward these narrative texts, according to the life stages in the life courses. As a result, their narrative stories were concluded as five main story themes in the following explanation:
First of all, they were about the research participants’ short biographies. Each short biography had eight-word description as each participant’s life theme with the story narration of various life stages, such as the growing background, the marriage style, the family life, the couple interdependence, the moment of farewell to the spouse, the adjustment way and the arrangement of the rest of life…etc.
Secondly, they were about the mutual life experiences of the research participants with their spouses before they passed away. They were made of three main stories, including the marriage stories; the family stories and the couple stories. In the marriage stories, four kinds of marriage styles were discussed, such as the arrangement marriage via the matchers or the relatives; the short-term dating marriage via friends; the self-selection marriage via personal decision and the appointment marriage via the previous agreement of their parents. As to the family stories, three family types were described with different family problems or challenges. For example, there were four main problems in the core family, such as the economic factor, the health factor, the couple interaction and the children’s situation. In the extended family, three more problems were added to the former four ones to be seven ones in a sum, such as the relatives’ relationship, the relationship of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and the family crisis since there were two participants who went through the disaster of flood in Taiwan on August 8th, 2009. As to the big branch family, there were two more family problems besides the former six family problems in the extended family, such as the relationship between brothers as well as the sisters-in-law. Concerned about the couple stories, the participants and their spouses supported each other in their marriage and family life in the following ways, such as the economic support, the life care, the emotional adjustment and the traveling company.
Thirdly, they were about the process of the participants’ self-adjustment after losing their spouses. They consisted of three main stories, such as the loss stories at the moment of farewell to their spouses, the grief stories after really losing the spouses and the recollection stories of the self-adjustment. In the loss stories, three reasons were explained for the death of the spouses, such as the accidental death, the death after short-term hospital stay and the incurable death after chronic disease or fatal cancer. There were two main ways for the participants to say farewell to their spouses, individually or unclearly according to their own description. In the grief stories, the participants went through four stages of response toward losing their spouses, such as the shock response, the grief symptom, the calmness condition and the recovery situation. As to the recollection stories, the participants applied the following seven ways of the self-adjustment for grasping the exterior resources, such as the adaptation of dreaming, the unwilling of re-marriage, the heath concern, the self-caring, the psychological adjustment, the interest development and the accomplishment of the will for the spouses.
Fourthly, they were about how the participants grasped the exterior social support and the learning networks after losing their spouses. It was renamed as the stories of re-settlement before they continued to deal with the rest of their lives. There were seven ways that the participants could apply in this part, such as the family system, the inter-personal networks, the religious beliefs, the community networks, the learning channels, the volunteering services and the social welfare…etc. The family system was evaluated by the living situations of the participants as well as the practical support from their family. The inter-personal networks mainly included the neighbors, friends or relatives that the participants could reach out beyond the family system. The religious beliefs were concerned about the regularly religious rituals, the religious theology and the religious gatherings and fellowships. The community networks basically mentioned about the elder people short-term activities in the village senior citizens’ union as well as the regular activities or gathering in the county senior citizens’ daily care center. The learning networks included both formal learning and informal learning process. The volunteering services consisted of the herbal prescription volunteer, the long-term elder volunteer, the lifesaving volunteer, the health caring volunteer as well as the teaching volunteer …etc. As to the social welfare, they were made up of the financial support from the government, such as the farmers, the veterans, the veterans’ spouses , the special financial support for the nature disaster…etc.
Fifthly, they were about how the participants rebuilt their new life styles and interpreted their eventual life meanings. They were about the stories of gaining the balances in the rest of their lives after losing their spouses, including the main three stories, such as the integration stories of setting up the new life styles; the preparation stories of the continuous lives and the eventual interpretation of the life meanings. In the integration stories, the three dimensions were discussed interactively, inclusive of the grief response shown in the process of self -adjustment by applying the interior resources as well as grasping the exterior social supports and learning networks. As to the preparation stories, they were consisted of five main parts, such as the attitudes toward the issues of death, the planning of the present lives, the arrangement of the legacy or property, the ideas about the personal funeral ceremony and the expectation about the lives after death. Concerned about the eventual interpretation of the life meanings, each of fourteen participants was carved with four Chinese words as his or her life theme and rewoven with the eight-word description in the first part of short biography to show up each one’s life key point with unique characteristics, such as the return to the nature, the dedication to the Lord, the personal practice as an example, the feedback to the society, the transferring from the danger to the safety, the accomplishment of the personal duty, the request of oneself, the concerning about the off-springs, the protection of the Lord, the smooth life leading daily, the honor of the children, the blessing of peace, the happiness for finding the root of life and obeying the heavenly rule…etc.
Lastly, on the basis of the above research findings, the dissertation were given with some suggestions in response of the ultimate goals for building up the friendly environments for the benefit of the senior citizens in their health, safely and lifelong learning to sustain their life energy, self-dignity and self-reliance in the population policy white book for the senior citizens. They were inclusive of the following eight issues, such as the supportive policy for the family to take care of the elder people, the complete system for the elder people’s health and social care, the promotion of the elder people’s economic safety and guarantee, the enhancement of the elder people’s employment as well as the application of the human resources, the upgrading of the elder people’s living habitats or community, the improvement of the elder people’s transportation and the encouragement of the elder people’s participation in the recreation and the programming of the elder people’s perfect educational systems. In the very end, the researcher was giving the self-reflection to recall what she had learned, adapted and transformed in the entire research process of the eight periods, and the future planning for the continuous researches based on this dissertation.