Undercover fear of elderly people in nursing homes: Death anxiety and depression

Aim: To find out the level of death anxiety and depression level among Turkish elderly people.Methods: This research was carried out on 106 elderly people aged 60 years and older from three different nursing homes. Descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, t-test, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, and correlations were used for the analyses.Results: The 25.4% of elderly were between 65-69 years old, and included most of the elderly who were male (83%), single (92.5%) and retired (35.8%).The overall mean on depression was 14.43, and the death anxiety was 7.57. Mild depression was found in 69.8%, and no symptoms of depression were reported by 16% of the subjects. A positive correlation was found between total score of GDS and TDAS (r: 0.304, p<0.01).Conclusion: Healthcare professionals working with elderly people in nursing homes should be aware about death anxiety of the elderly