When a partner dies: lesbian widows.

Death of a life partner and the subsequent bereavement are profound experiences for an individual. By far, the majority of bereavement research reported is focused on heterosexual couples, primarily married and often in the later years of life. The purpose of this study was to describe the bereavement experiences of lesbians whose life partners have died. The study used a descriptive, qualitative design informed by feminist scholarship and phenomenology to access the depth of personal experiences, as well as internally interpreted meanings of those experiences, among lesbian widows.