The relation of death anxiety to social life and happiness in elderly people

Introduction: The purpose of this study is to determine the relation of death anxiety to social life and happiness in elder people of İzmir province, to determine the level of death anxiety and evaluate its relation with some sociodemographic and clinical variables. Materials and method: 386 persons who are between 65-74 years old, 396 persons who are equal or above 75 years old, a total of 782 persons (476 women, 306 men) applied to 11 central city family health centers were included in the study. Standardized Mini Mental Test was performed by interviewing the elderly with a face-to-face interview method, Time Drawing Test was performed on uneducated group and sociodemographic data were recorded.Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form (GDS Short Form), Oxford Happiness Scale Short Form (OHS Short Form), Barthel Index, Death Anxiety Scale (DAS) was performed. Results: 61% of the elderly included in the study were female, with an average age of 73,9 ± 5,5. The average DAS score was 8,8 ± 1,5. The anxiety score of 75 years old and over was significantly higher than the age group of 65-74 years. According to gender status, the anxiety score of death was significantly higher in males than in females, unlike many studies in the literature. In those with anxiety for death, the single-widow ratio was significantly higher than the group without anxiety for death. In single-widows, the anxiety score of death was significantly higher than that of married ones. The anxiety anxiety score of the retirees was significantly higher (p ˂ 0.05) than the working and non-working group. The death anxiety score was significantly higher in the group without mild reaction than in the group with mild reaction. The death anxiety score was significantly higher in depression group (p ˂ 0.05) than in depression group. The death anxiety score was not significantly different (p> 0.05) in patients with and without additional disease. Conclusion: In this study, it was determined that educational status in elderly individuals did not affect death anxiety of additional disease, but death anxiety score was associated with age, age distribution, gender income level and working status. Anxiety about death in elderly individuals is a fact that being aware of this during health care delivery in the primary care can make it easier for family physicians to find interventions that will increase the quality of life for the elderly. Longitudinal studies by observing different variables will demonstrate the vital importance of the anxiety of death and help better understand meaning by determining situations that will affect the individual's social life and happiness. KEYWORDS: Death anxiety, elderly, happiness, social life