Seniors’ viewpoints about death phenomenon: A qualitative study

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 counseling, human sciences faculty, Kurdistan university, Sanandaj city, Iran

2 MSc Student in Family Counseling, Faculty of Humanities, Kurdistan University, Sanandaj, Iran

Abstract

Seniority is the last stage of life, which every human can reach. Different views have been presented in relation to aging and this phenomenon has been studied thoroughly, the aim of this research is to study the perspectives of elderly people in relation to their past life, their beliefs and thoughts and feelings about death and their ideas about the afterlife. Out of all seniors resided in Elderly Care House in Sanandaj city 17 interviewees have been chosen for semi-structured interviews in detail. The transcriptions were reviewed exhaustively, using Colaizzi's strategy in descriptive phenomenology analyses that were conducted, which resulted in three main themes and eighteen sub-themes. Main themes are including Unlived life, thoughts about death and after death. The most significant sub-themes can be expressed in the concepts of suppression of personal needs due to the needs of others, Death anxiety, isolation, acceptance of death and the desire to live eternally in peace.

Keywords

References

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History

  • Receive Date: 06 March 2019
  • Revise Date: 01 September 2019
  • Accept Date: 12 October 2019

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