Health Education as a Means of Addressing Death in the Elderly.

Nazaret Martínez-Heredia,Andrés Soriano Díaz,Gracia González-Gijón,Ana Amaro Agudo

doi:10.3390/ijerph18126652

Nazaret Martínez-Heredia, Andrés Soriano Díaz + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18126652

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Abstract

Education for death is an emerging field of study in which health education research and proposals are increasingly being made with the aim of acquiring knowledge and skills to promote positive attitudes towards health and preparation for the end of life. The aim of this study is to find out what experience older people have had with death education and the importance they give to health education. A qualitative methodological design was selected using a semi-structured interview. The survey consisted of interviews with 28 participants from the city of Granada (Spain) aged 61 to 78. This qualitative-descriptive study is based on an analysis of older people’s experience of education and preparation for death throughout their lives. The results show that, in most cases, the only information received was in childhood and always from a religious perspective. Death and health are closely related, so working on death education helps to improve the quality of life of elderly people. Health education offers ways of coping with the end of life through the transmission of values and practices that make it possible to anticipate and resolve situations of instability or anxiety. Facing death naturally and as just another part of life will help to make healthy ageing possible, through educational proposals related to the integral health of elderly people.

Highlights

Death is a field of knowledge that is beginning to be analysed in a multidisciplinary way
The overall aim of this study is to find out what experience older people have had with death education and the importance they give to health education
The results have been organised according to the two categories of analysis (Figure 2): (1) education for death: theory, education received and (2) preparation for death: training for death and resources together with the importance they attach to health education

Summary

Introduction

Death is a field of knowledge that is beginning to be analysed in a multidisciplinary way. Due to the invisibilisation to which it has been subjected by our culture, it has remained hidden, above all, in the imagination of the younger generation. People, regardless of their age, do not know the circumstances of their death, so fear and uncertainty generate a remarkable set of emotions, including fear and anxiety [2]. In particular, a series of processes are set in motion, including an increase in thoughts about the proximity and arrival of death, which allows for a clearer appreciation of the fact that life is limited and a greater awareness of mortality [3]. The process of dying is affected by other factors, including the presence of close deaths of family members or friends and the need for grief processing both for oneself and others [4]

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