Health Education as a Means of Addressing Death in the Elderly

Nazaret Martínez-Heredia, Andrés Soriano Díaz, Ana Amaro Agudo and Gracia González-Gijón
Additional contact information
Nazaret Martínez-Heredia: Department of Pedagogy, University of Granada, 18011 Granada, Spain
Andrés Soriano Díaz: Department of Pedagogy, University of Granada, 18011 Granada, Spain
Ana Amaro Agudo: Department of Pedagogy, University of Granada, 18011 Granada, Spain
Gracia González-Gijón: Department of Pedagogy, University of Granada, 18011 Granada, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 12, 1-12

Abstract: Education for death is an emerging field of study in which health education research and proposals are increasingly being made with the aim of acquiring knowledge and skills to promote positive attitudes towards health and preparation for the end of life. The aim of this study is to find out what experience older people have had with death education and the importance they give to health education. A qualitative methodological design was selected using a semi-structured interview. The survey consisted of interviews with 28 participants from the city of Granada (Spain) aged 61 to 78. This qualitative-descriptive study is based on an analysis of older people’s experience of education and preparation for death throughout their lives. The results show that, in most cases, the only information received was in childhood and always from a religious perspective. Death and health are closely related, so working on death education helps to improve the quality of life of elderly people. Health education offers ways of coping with the end of life through the transmission of values and practices that make it possible to anticipate and resolve situations of instability or anxiety. Facing death naturally and as just another part of life will help to make healthy ageing possible, through educational proposals related to the integral health of elderly people.

Keywords: elderly adults; health; quality of life; active ageing; well-being; education for death; qualitative (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/12/6652/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/12/6652/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:12:p:6652-:d:578810

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().