Death anxiety, loneliness among elderly persons living in old age homes and families

In this world nothing can be said as certain, except death, even though the elderly people are more anxious about it. Death anxiety refers to the fear and anxiety related to the anticipation, and awareness, of dying, death and non-existence. It typically includes emotional, cognitive, and motivational components that vary according to a person’s stage of development and sociocultural life experiences. Loneliness is defined as an unpleasant experience that occurs when a people’s network of social relations is deficient in some important way, either quantitatively or qualitatively. The aim of this present study is to understand the relationship between death anxiety and loneliness among the old age adults living in old age homes and families. Sample consists of 120 old age participants, 60 from old age homes and 60 from families of Ernakulam district, Kerala. A socio-demographic data and Death anxiety scale, Thakur and Thakur (1984) and UCLA loneliness scale, Russel et al., (1978) were used for data collection. The result revealed that there is no significant relationship between death anxiety and loneliness among old age persons living in old age homes and families.