Background: The death of a partner is a critical life event in later life, which requires grief work as well as the development of a new perspective for the future. Cognitive behavioral web-based self-help interventions for coping with prolonged grief have established their efficacy in decreasing symptoms of grief, depression, and loneliness. However, no study has tested the efficacy for reducing grief after losses occurring less than 6 months ago and the role of self-tailoring of the content. Objective: This study aims to evaluate the clinical efficacy and acceptance of a web-based self-help intervention to support the grief process of older adults who have lost their partner. It will compare the outcomes, adherence, and working alliance in a standardized format with those in a self-tailored delivery format and investigate the effects of age, time since loss, and severity of grief at baseline as predictors. Focus groups to understand user experience and a cost-effectiveness analysis will complement the study. Methods: The study includes 3 different randomized control trials. The trial in Switzerland comprises a waitlist control group and 2 active arms consisting of 2 delivery formats, standardized and self-tailored. In the Netherlands and in Portugal, the trials follow a 2-arm design that will be, respectively, complemented with focus groups on technology acceptance and cost-effectiveness analysis. The main target group will consist of adults aged >60 years from the general population in Switzerland (n≥85), the Netherlands (n≥40), and Portugal (n≥80) who lost their partner and seek help for coping with grief symptoms, psychological distress, and adaptation problems in daily life. The trials will test the intervention’s clinical efficacy for reducing grief (primary outcome) and depression symptoms and loneliness (secondary outcomes) after the intervention. Measurements will take place at baseline (week 0), after the intervention (week 10), and at follow-up (week 20). Results: The trials started in March 2022 and are expected to end in December 2022 or when the needed sample size is achieved. The first results are expected by January 2023. Conclusions: The trials will provide insights into the efficacy and acceptance of a web-based self-help intervention among older adults who have recently lost a partner. Results will extend the knowledge on the role of self-tailoring, working alliance, and satisfaction in the effects of the intervention. Finally, the study will suggest adaptations to improve the acceptance of web-based self-help interventions for older mourners and explore the cost-effectiveness of this intervention. Limitations include a self-selective sample and the lack of cross-cultural comparisons. Trial Registration: Switzerland: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05280041; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05280041; Portugal: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05156346; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05156346 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/37827

The prevailing understanding of work as paid work is reflected in political efforts to achieve gender equality, which include emphasising that women, like men, should increasingly pursue paid work. This exploratory research aims to question whether this idea to align female with male life patterns is conducive to gender equality and to promote new insights based on mothers’ experiences. Our analysis is based on guided interviews with eight Swiss mothers in part-time employment who have at least one child aged three or older, and a working partner in the same household. The interviews show that these mothers do not share the expectation that all mothers should take on the main responsibility for domestic and care work, nor the expectation that all women should be doing full-time paid work. They would like to see greater acceptance and appreciation of different forms of work. This research concludes that gender justice can be understood as a freedom of choice that includes both the right to be doing paid work and the right to have time for domestic and care work—for men and women. Gender equality efforts do not have to be restricted to one form of work, but can leave room for different types of work and the appreciation of them.