| Death is a topic that cannot be avoided by the elderly population.And in the context of the epidemic,the threat of the virus aggravates the problem of death faced by the elderly,or the panic brought by feeling death.Faced with the gradually rising number of deaths every day,it is undoubtedly a constant reminder of the arrival of death.Following the Chinese cultural tradition,people almost avoid talking about such topics as death.The lack of death education causes individuals to be unable to accept death when they face it directly,thus affecting their satisfaction and happiness in life.Therefore,studying the fear of death in the elderly is of great relevance nowadays.Existing research suggests a negative relationship between perceptions of physical health and fear of death,but the mechanisms underlying the relationship are poorly investigated.Further review of the literature suggests that perceptions of control and social support may play a role in the relationship between perceptions of physical health and fear of death.Decreased physical health results in a lower sense of control over one’s life and a higher sense of limitation,which combine to trigger a lower sense of control.Individuals who feel out of control become more fearful of death.If the individual’s social relationships provide more social support during this process,this will have a protective effect on the sense of control and thus moderate the increase in fear of death.This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between perceived physical health and fear of death and the role of perceived control and social support in this process.First,a qualitative interview was conducted to explore whether perceived physical health is an important factor influencing fear of death in older adults,and if perceived physical health is indeed critical to fear of death,a large-scale study was conducted to further explore the internal mechanisms through which perceived physical health plays a role in fear of death.Finally,based on the resulting model,we propose recommendations and countermeasures to reduce the fear of death in older adults.Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 older adults,ranging in age from 65 to 75 years,including 6 men and 4 women,with an average age of 72.40 years.The study materials were based on the outline of the death attitudes interview,which was validated by nursing experts,and the outline of the death attitudes interview was adjusted to focus on the topic of fear of death,taking into account the previous review of the literature.With the help of the qualitative analysis software Nnivo.11,the interviews were coded manually,mainly by referring to the "thematic highlighting classification" and coding the entire text word by word and sentence by sentence at the primary and secondary levels.The analysis of the final interview results showed that most of the elderly people had negative attitudes toward death and expressed their fears and worries about death,which could even affect their normal life in serious cases.In the process of exploring the real causes of the fear of death,it was found that there are various factors affecting the fear of death,such as interpersonal relationships,economic conditions,social support,control over life,etc.Among them,the most important factor for the elderly is indeed the physical health condition.Once the health of the elderly declines,they will feel the difficulty of controlling their lives,which means the sense of control decreases,and eventually the fear of death increases.In this process,social support can be a buffer against the fear of death.Based on the results of the qualitative study,Study 2 used scales to further explore the relationship between perceived physical health and fear of death among older adults and to determine the role of perception of control and social support in order to provide reference information for reducing fear of death among older adults in the future.A total of 445 scales were distributed to older adults aged 60 years or older in Chongqing and Maanshan City,Anhui Province,and 425 scales were collected,resulting in a total of 409 valid scales.The four scales,"Physical Health Perception Scale","Sense of Control Scale","Social Support Scale" and "Fear of Death Scale",were used as the instruments for the study.The elderly who could not read or write were given a question and answer format to ensure that they had a good understanding of the questions on the scales and could give a true and reliable response.The results revealed that:(1)Physical health status,sense of control,and fear of death among older adults were all at moderately slightly higher levels overall,but social support levels among older adults were at moderately lower levels.There were also differences in demographic variables.(2)There was a significant negative correlation between physical health perception and fear of death,a significant positive correlation between physical health perception and sense of control,and a significant negative correlation between sense of control and fear of death among the elderly.(3)Sense of control partially mediated the relationship between perception of physical health and fear of death;social support moderated the relationship between perception of physical health and fear of death;the mediating model of sense of control with social support as the moderating variable was valid.When the perception of physical health decreases,social support can protect the perception of control,thus slowing down the increase in the level of fear of death. |
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