A factor analytic investigation of home-bound elderly individuals' concerns about death and dying, and their coping...

One hundred and seventy-eight home-bound elderly men and women participated in an investigation of death and dying concerns and coping responses used to deal with these anxieties. A semi-structured interview procedure was used to obtain responses from the subjects. The data subsequently were subjected to two factor analyses. The resulting factors from the interview and checklist responses of the elderly showed three major categories of elderly subjects' fears, which consisted of factors of (1) physical pain and suffering; (2) risk to personal safety; and (3) threat to self-esteem and the uncertainty of life beyond death. The four major categories of their coping responses consisted of factors related to internal self-control, social support, prayer, and preoccupation with objects of attachment.