Personification of life and death among Swedish health care professionals

The aim of this study was to determine how people working in health care in Sweden personify life and death. The questions of special interest were whether there are archetypal notions of life and death, and what emotional tone is associated with them, especially with death. Totals of 22 women and 25 men working in health care were interviewed individually. The results showed that 84% of the men and 65% of the women personified death as an old man. The descriptions were archetypal, the reaper figure being the most evident personification. Death was often given a rural location, it was seasonally associated with autumn, and its time of day was evening or night. The emotional tone associated with death by more than 50% of the interviewees was serenity, peace, and melancholy; 25% saw death as something frightening. The corresponding personifications of life showed the opposite characteristics in nearly all respects. The results indicate that archetypal notions of life and death do exist and that these notions are culturally influenced.