Belgian and U.S. Older Adults' Lay Perspectives on 'Tiredness of Life'

The phenomenon of 'tiredness of life' (ToL) in older adults emerges in societal and political debates on euthanasia and assisted suicide (EAS) as well as in academia. However, the conceptualization of ToL is unclear and seems to be influenced by the socio-political context of studies (i.e., EAS debates). Also, lay perspectives are largely neglected in current conceptualizations, but appear important to assess their usefulness. The current study explored Belgian (n = 512) older adults' lay ideas on ToL and compared them to those of older adults from a different socio-political context, namely the U.S. (n = 144). Two sets of open-ended questions inquiring about conceptualization and personal experiences with ToL were asked. Directed content analysis was used to examine the fit of lay and current scientific ideas (defining ToL as boredom and aversion towards life, meaninglessness, fatigue). The influence of personal experiences with ToL as well as potential differences between the countries were also explored. Scientific and lay ideas were mostly overlapping. Boredom with life was the most frequent and aversion the least frequent component in both countries. Three additional components were identified in lay ideas. Participants with personal experience with ToL were mentioning most components more frequently. Interestingly, the Belgian codebook did not need to be adapted to fit the U.S. data. This study is a first indication of the usefulness of scientific ToL conceptualizations in different socio-political contexts. Ideas on ways to integrate additional insights into future research on ToL and tailor interventions are discussed.