Attitude and fear regarding death in older adult people

Abstract

Death has often been considered a taboo subject in many societies over time. Over the years, our Western culture in Spain has set aside the issue of death through its avoidance or even denial, removing it little by little from our environment, avoiding it as an evil that threatens us. In the same way, we currently see how the quality of life increases along with a higher life expectancy at around 80. Through this article we intend to reflect about attitudes towards death in older adult people, both at group and individual level. To a qualitative methodological design was selected using an information collecting technique, and a semi-structured and in-depth interview to look into the life story of the older adult. The survey consisted of interviews with 30 individuals from the city of Granada (Spain) aged 65 to 85. The results indicated a positive attitude to death of oneself but not so much to the death of others, expressing the fear or the anxiety towards the finiteness of a loved one. The main conclusion is the need for creating educational spaces aimed at adults, to be able to treat these negative attitudes and reinforce the positive ones through the development of pedagogy and education regarding death.