Turkish Journal of Geriatrics 2018 , Vol 21, Issue 3
DEATH ANXIETY IN THE ELDERLY: RELATION TO PARTICIPATION IN DAILY LIFE
Gülseren KESKİN1, Şeyda DÜLGERLER2, Esra ENGİN2, Ayşegül BİLGE2, Serap ÖZER2, Sevgi PEKER2
1Ege University, Atatürk Medical Vocational Training School, Psychiatry, İzmir, Turkey
2Ege University, Faculty of Nursing, Psychiatry, Ä°zmir, Turkey
3Ege University, Faculty of Nursing, Ä°zmir, Turkey
DOI : 10.31086/tjgeri.2018344053 Introduction: Evaluating daily living activities and death anxiety, which is one of the psychological problems that elderly people experience, is important to provide the best quality of care for improving the psychological well-being and the quality of life of elderly people. The aim of this study was to analyse death anxiety and daily living activities of elderly people living in a nursing home.

Materials and Method: This descriptive study was performed in a nursing home in Izmir in western Turkey. The sample comprised 150 elderly people who met the research inclusion criteria. Data were gathered with the use of the Demographic Information Form, the Templer Death Anxiety Scale and the Daily Life Activities Form.

Results: The mean Templer Death Anxiety score of the participants was 5.44±1.05, and the mean Daily Life Activities Form score was 36.67±9.04. Among activities of daily living, using the toilet had the lowest score (7.48±2.62). Death anxiety was significantly higher among men (t=2.81, p<0.05). There was no statistically significant relationship between death anxiety and performance of activities of daily living (r=- 0.02, p>0.05).

Conclusion: Death anxiety was not associated with performance of activities of daily living. Keywords : Activities of daily living; Anxiety; Aged; Death; Nursing homes; Nursing care