Study On The Status And Related Factors Of Death Anxiety In Elderly Inpatients With Chronic Diseases

As a special group,the elderly patients with chronic diseases have been suffering from diseases for a long time.When they are facing death threats or at the end of their life,they often feel uneasy,worried or afraid,and the quality of life is greatly lowered.At present,death anxiety has become a hot issue in research of the elderly.Death Anxiety refers to experiences related to personal death awareness,including anxiety,worry,panic,and other pain.In recent years,there have been many research reports on death anxiety in foreign countries.However,research in China is currently limited to the quantitative study of death anxiety.The qualitative or interventional research literature on death anxiety of elderly inpatients with chronic diseases has not been found to our knowledge.To further clarify the causes and influencing factors of death anxiety in elderly inpatients with chronic diseases in China,this study intends to use investigation and qualitative research methods in order to provide a theoretical basis for clinical interventions.Part? AN INVESTIGATION ON THE STATUS OF DEATH ANXIETY IN ELDERLY INPATIENTS WITH CHRONIC DISEASESObjectiveThe aim of this study was to describe the status of death anxiety in elderly inpatients with chronic diseases and analyze the influencing factors.MethodsThe questionnaires,including TDAS,SES,FACIT-SP-12,MOS-SSS-C,SF-36,were used as a survey tool,and 350 elderly inpatients with chronic diseases of three hospitals in Shandong Province were selected using convenient sampling.Using Excel and SPSS22.0 software for data collation and analysis,the status of death anxiety was described and influencing factors were analyzed.Results1.Status of death anxiety in elderly inpatients with chronic diseasesThe results of this study showed that the lowest score of death anxiety in elderly inpatients with chronic diseases was 0 point,the highest score was 14 points,and the average score was(6.57±3.40)points.In particular,cancer patients' death anxiety score was(8.57±3.59)points,while non-cancer patients' death anxiety score was(5.82±3.01)points.2.Influencing factors of death anxiety in elderly inpatients with chronic diseases(1)One-way analysis of variance showed that gender,religion,major types of chronic diseases,types of comorbidity,and talk of death within the family were the influencing factors of death anxiety(P<0.05).(2)Multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that gender,religion,and types of comorbidity were predictors of death anxiety(P<0.01),regression coefficients were 0.780,-1.410,and-3.552,respectively,and the coefficient of determination was R~2=0.308.(3)Pearson correlation analysis showed that death anxiety was negatively correlated with self-esteem,social support,spiritual well-being,and quality of life.ConclusionThe death anxiety in elderly inpatients with chronic diseases was at an intermediate level.The death anxiety levels of cancer patients were significantly higher than those of non-cancer patients.Death anxiety was influenced by factors such as gender,religion,major types of chronic diseases,types of comorbidity,and talk of death within the family.The higher the levels of self-esteem,social support,spiritual well-being and quality of life were,the lower the levels of death anxiety were.Part ? A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF DEATH ANXIETY IN ELDERLY INPATIENTS WITH CHRONIC DISEASESObjectiveThe aim of this study was to describe the experience of death anxiety in elderly inpatients with chronic diseases,and provide a theoretical basis for clinical intervention.MethodsUsing a phenomenological study,semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 patients with chronic disease at the Affiliated Hospital of Taishan Medical University.Colaizzi analysis method and NVivo11 software were used to organize,summarize,and analyze materials.ResultsThe death anxiety experience in elderly inpatients with chronic diseases was summed up in 5 themes and 10 subthemes.Theme ?: Death worries:(1)The worries about unknown aspects of death;(2)The worries about what happened after death.Theme ?: Life regret:(1)Past-related regret;(2)Future-related regret.Theme ?: Death attitudes:(1)Positive attitude towards death-conform to nature;(2)Negative attitude towards death-avoidance.Theme ?: Mortality Salience:(1)Mortality salience from one's own experience;(2)Mortality salience from someone else's experience.Theme ?: End-of-life decisions:(1)Expectation to obtain end-of-life decisions;(2)No consideration of end-of-life decisions.ConclusionThere were different levels of death anxiety and several negative emotional experiences in elderly inpatients with chronic diseases.This suggests that nursing staff should pay attention to the level of death anxiety in patients,analyze the causes,and provide personalized and effective interventions.