Specific aims of the proposed pilot study are to explore how the subjective well being of the oldest-old adults may be related to their concepts and fears about impending death, and to suggest whether any such relationships may vary with age, gender, health, and ethnicity. Long range objectives are to test relevant hypotheses from the pilot study in a larger study and to develop interventions to improve subjective well being of the oldest-old, if that seems desirable. Design is a field study using primarily qualitative research methods. Sample includes 24 oldest-old (aged 85 and up) and a comparison group of 24 young-old (aged 65- 74) White and African-American men and women. Unstructured focused interviews in depth will be used to probe elders' meanings and fears about death, their general sense of well being, and their general sense of health. Procedures of qualitative analysis (e.g., open, axial, selective coding) will be used to identify concepts or categories in interview protocols, suggest relationships, and verify relationships using a grounded theory approach. In addition, some quantitative data will be collected (e.g., death meaning scale, Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale, Bradburn Affect Balance scale, Gerontological Apperception Test, self-rating of health, health checklist, ADL, and IADL), and used to test hypotheses generated from the qualitative analysis. The report will include interpretation of findings and suggestions for carrying out a larger study.
| Cicirelli, Victor G (2004) God as the ultimate attachment figure for older adults. Attach Hum Dev 6:371-88 |
| Cicirelli, V G (2001) Personal meanings of death in older adults and young adults in relation to their fears of death. Death Stud 25:663-83 |
