[Religiosity and mood in the last week of life: an explorative approach based on after-death proxy-interviews]

The current contribution focuses on the role of religiousness on aspects of mood in the last week of life. After-death interviews with proxy respondents of deceased participants of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam provided information on depressive mood and anxiety in the last week of life, as well as on a sense of peace with the approaching end of life. Furthermore, the proxy respondents were asked about serious physical symptoms in the last week of life, cognitive decline, salience of religion, and whether the deceased respondent had talked about religion. Other characteristics were derived from the last interviews with the respondents when still alive: depressive symptoms, religious affiliation, church-attendance, orthodoxy, salience of religion, and cosmic transcendence. None of the characteristics of religiousness were significantly associated with depressive mood or anxiety as estimated by the proxy-respondent. A sense of peace, however, was predicted by higher church-attendance, Protestant affiliation (as compared to no affiliation), and the proxy's estimate of the salience of religion. It is concluded that religiousness does not affect depressive mood or anxiety in the last week of life in the current sample. Possibly, religiousness supports a sense of peace, which may be a more existential facet of mood, and which is discussed as relevant in the last phase of life and in palliative care.