Fear of death and quality of life in older adults

Abstract

Objective: Know the relationship between the fear of death and the quality of life of older adults. Materials and Method: Correlational study in older adults. The sample was 99 older adults. The original Collet-Lester Scale of Death Fear and the Dying Process and the WHOQOL-BREF Questionnaire were used. Results: No relationship found on the global scale of Death Fear and the Dying Process with the quality of life. A negative relationship was observed between the fear of own death and the physical dimension of the quality of life (p<.05), and the fear of the process of dying with the environmental dimension of quality of life (p<.05). Positive relationship was found between the fear of the death of others and the social dimension of quality of life (p <.05). Conclusions: A lesser fear of one's own death higher quality of life in the physical dimension, a lesser fear of the process of dying, greater quality of life in the environmental dimension and the greater the fear of the death of other people, the greater the quality of life in the social dimension.