Why are we doing a letter exchange on love in later life?

We would love to correspond with Scottish residents, aged 60+ about their individual experiences of love.    

Writing about lived experience is a process that involves decision-making and self-awareness The letter exchange will be particularly significant for our understanding of love in later life.  The collaborative dialogue between you and the Getting On… team will help us further explore love in later life.

This will be small-scale study drawing on letters or emails exchanged with, ideally, 3 individuals of 60+ in relationships of long standing (14 years or more); 3 individuals of 60+ living in new relationships established after the age of 60 years; and 3 singles (of 60+) either living alone or looking for a new relationship. The insights from this part of the project will set the agenda for a future research protocol. 

As participation in the letter exchange will involve describing your past emotional life, discussion of these matters will be done with full sensitivity. To protect your privacy identity, participants will be provided with pseudonyms.