Undercover fear of elderly people in nursing homes: Death anxiety and depression

Authors

  • Hicran Bektaş Akdeniz University
  • Öznur Körükcü Akdeniz University
  • Kamile Kabukcuoğlu Akdeniz University

Keywords:

Depression, death, death anxiety, nursing, elderly

Abstract

Aim: To find out the level of death anxiety and depression level among Turkish elderly people.

Methods: This research was carried out on 106 elderly people aged 60 years and older from three different nursing homes. Descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, t-test, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, and correlations were used for the analyses.

Results: The 25.4% of elderly were between 65-69 years old, and included most of the elderly who were male (83%), single (92.5%) and retired (35.8%).The overall mean on depression was 14.43, and the death anxiety was 7.57.  Mild depression was found in 69.8%, and no symptoms of depression were reported by 16% of the subjects. A positive correlation was found between total score of GDS and TDAS (r: 0.304, p<0.01).

Conclusion: Healthcare professionals working with elderly people in nursing homes should be aware about death anxiety of the elderly.

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Author Biographies

Hicran Bektaş, Akdeniz University

Assoc. Prof. Dr., Akdeniz University, Faculty of Nursing

Öznur Körükcü, Akdeniz University

Assist. Prof. Dr., Akdeniz University, Faculty of Nursing

Kamile Kabukcuoğlu, Akdeniz University

Prof. Dr., Akdeniz University, Faculty of Nursing

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Published

2017-03-24

How to Cite

Bektaş, H., Körükcü, Öznur, & Kabukcuoğlu, K. (2017). Undercover fear of elderly people in nursing homes: Death anxiety and depression. Journal of Human Sciences, 14(1), 587–597. Retrieved from https://www.j-humansciences.com/ojs/index.php/IJHS/article/view/4268

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Section

Nursing and Midwifery