A Life Course Approach to Health, Well-being, and Ageing: An Essay

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This essay explores death, dying, and bereavement.

A life course approach to health, well-
being, and ageing
Contents
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................................2
BODY.........................................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................................11
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INTRODUCTION
This assignment explains the concept of death and how it is taboo in today's world. It
explains the commonplace of dying and the experiences of dying in a different culture
and different places. It also focuses on and describes denial of death theory and
critically acclaims it.it describes the revivalist concept of death which differs from
traditional and modern form. It distinguishes between the psychological concept of
bereavement and social aspect of bereavement and grief (Lehto, 2009).
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BODY
Place of death
Death in recent years is not being discussed much but it is inevitable. Though it is not
discussed much every person is aware of the concept of death and that it is the
experience everyone has to go through. The death rate among the aged people has
gone low and the life expectancy of people has increased in recent years. But the
overall death rate in the UK seems to be rising as observed in the year 2018. The death
rate in 2018 in quarter 1 from January to march was estimated to be 153,717. Age-
standardised mortality rate 1187 death per 100000 populations. This suggests an
increase in death rate from previous years in the UK as observed the death rate in 2017
was 533,253 deaths which were 1.6% higher than previous years. It has been observed
that in recent years, maximum deaths have occurred in an institution, hospitals or care
homes than that of homes (gov.uk, 2018). But the place of death was different for
different age groups and this was observed in the 2011 survey which is depicted in the
following table
AGE TOTAL HOME CARE
HOME
HOSPICES HOSPITALS
65-74 78591 22669 5536 7388 41386
75-84 143,422 31,315 23,720 7,670 78,746
84+ 180,103 25,452 61,125 3,291 88,424
Total
65+
402,116 79,436 90,381 18,349 208,556
Source: https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/reports-and-
publications/reports-and-briefings/health--wellbeing/
rb_oct13_age_uk_end_of_life_evidence_review.pdf
This data suggest that a maximum number of death occurred in hospitals of people
above 65. This depicts an increase in death in hospitals which seems to be common
these days. The idea of dying in hospitals seems scary and unacceptable for many
people because people find it easy to die at a comfortable place with family and friends.
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Death in hospitals too many seems raw and without emotions, not many consider it to
be comfortable or accepted death. These days death at home has reduced and is
commonly observed in hospitals and care home which is depressing for many. When a
person departs from this world, they want to be with family and friends and find it difficult
to be in a strange uncomfortable environment. Earlier when the hospitals and medicine
was not evolved, people usually died at their home comfortably with family and friends
but in modern world due to increase in awareness towards medicine, health, and
hospitals, it has become common for people to take dying person to hospital in a hope
to save the person (Corr et al, 2018). This usually happens because of hope and
unaccepted nature of people towards death. With advancement in medicine, hope has
increased to save people or delay death which makes people visit hospitals often in
hope of saving a person or to delay death, this naturally comes from unaccepted
behaviors towards death. People in the modern culture do not discuss the idea of death
and consider it unaccepted which is why they try every method to save the person and
delay death which results in a maximum number of death occurring in uncomfortable
place rather than hospitals. The government has introduced programs for people to
have the right to be dying in a comfortable environment as suggested by end of life
program by NHS which describes people given rights to choose and to have consented
in being or dying in a comfortable environment. NICE has also laid down guidelines of
the terminally ill patient and prioritised patient requirement and comfort and supported
the patient to receive the best care in a comfortable environment (Howarth, 2016).
Experience of dying
Experience and concept of death differ in a different culture and is observed that in a
country like the UK with mixed culture, there are different experiences and attitude
towards death. Asians have many rituals that they follow for the dying person which is
very different from that of western culture. People in the west do not consider the rituals
seriously and prefer living an independent life and are much aware of the concept of
death but this differs from that of Asian culture where people are involved and mourn for
days for dead person, they are also always present for dying person and give proper
ritualistic funeral to the dead (Chapple, 2015). Every dying person requires care and
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support from family and friends to feel loved and to be supported in last days. Many
cultures depict the concept of people visiting the dying person while some believe that
the dying person needs to rest and are on their own. Different of opinion among people
and culture towards death also differentiates the concept of care and support provided
because many believe that last days of a person should be filled with love and support
from family and friends and thus family is always present beside the dying person. In
some cultures patients are left in the hospitals under the care of nurses and staff, not
realising the fact that people in their last days need a family to be beside them. This
shifts the care and support provided to people and most people end up in hospitals
without families (Irish et al, 2014).
Denial of death theory
It has been observed that the topic of death seems to be fading in recent years. People
these days avoid the topic and discussion of death because of unaccepted behaviour
towards death. People find it difficult to accept the concept of death because it breaches
their goals and disrupts their happy life and so it is not a very common topic of
discussion. But in earlier days it was observed that death was widely accepted and
people understood the concept of death and talked about it openly while the topic of sex
was considered to be a taboo. But in recent years the topic of death has become taboo
than that of sex and people prefer discussing sex while death has become a depressing
topic even when it is inevitable. This brings us to the denial of death thesis which is
based on the idea that people in recent years have started to deny the concept of death
as compared to earlier years. Aries in 1976 and 1981 described death to be tamed in
the 17th century and before that which means that people were more accepting towards
the concept of death and it was widely discussed among households and was not a
taboo. He described how people were keenly involved in death rituals and family and
friends were always present for the dying person, even children were involved in such
rituals and considered it a privilege to bid farewell. The attitude of people towards death
changes in the 19th century where they considered it to be a taboo and the discussion of
death slowly faded from society. In this stage Aries termed it to be ‘forbidden’ death
because people forbid the idea and concept of death. Elias in 1985 also described how
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people approached dying person in recent years. He explained that people even with
love and sympathy for the dying person could not express it to the dying person which
depresses the dying person making them feel unloved. Gorer in 1965 also added to
denial theory by explaining about people’s determination and rituals towards death in
earlier days. People in recent years seem to lack the involvement in religious and rituals
in death avoiding the concept of death in recent years. He explained how people
avoided such rituals in recent years and was not involved in proper farewell to the dying
person. The denial of death theory suggests how people in recent years avoid the
concept of death and are not involved in any rituals and avoid talking about death.
Criticism of denial of death
People consider death to be a taboo because talking about it depresses people and
disrupts their happy life but this theory is criticized on various terms and claims that
even in recent year’s people value and accept the concept of death.
 People claimed that in recent years as well the concept and rituals of death is not
forbidden and people follow it and it is seen differently in different cultures. There
is variation in acceptance of death in different culture and is observed that some
culture still follow the rituals for dying or dead person.
 It was also argued about the death in hospitals considered lonely but it is
suggested that people in hospitals receive care and support from the nurses and
staff and people dying in hospitals also describe love and support from nurses
and comfortable environment in hospitals.
 In recent years death has been talked about in laws and regulations as well.
Introduction to the concept of death certificate clearly depicts and spreads the
idea of death and thus proving that the concept of death is not forbidden. There
was definitely a shift of death being declared by doctors in recent years than that
done by priests in olden days but this also suggests that concept is not forbidden
but just had a slight shift.
 Denial of death theory was also criticized through revival movement towards
death as describes by Walter in 1994 which depicted death in a psychological
manner.
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Revivalist movement
Walter in 1994 suggested that the concept of death is present in modern society as well
but the concept of it differs from that of traditional people in earlier days. He describes
the third set calling them revivalist because they bring the old traditions and values and
describe the concept of death in both traditional as well as modern way. He explained
the difference of opinion about death and described it in three forms. He explained that
death traditionally means passing of soul and that it was more of community-based and
had communal meaning to it. The knowledge of death traditionally was transferred
through religion or traditions and it was seen as spiritual death which meant meeting the
creator. But in modern form death was considered to be the end of just physical body
and the context of it was more private with no meaning to death. Deaths in modern form
were observed in hospitals and the knowledge was gained from medicine and the
concept of death was unconscious, painless and sudden (Lee, 2008). Revivalist, on the
other hand, viewed death differently as a psychological process and considered it in
both public and private context with the meaning of death being private to every
individual. The source of knowledge of death among revivalist was observed to be self-
knowledge and the concept of death was viewed as a finished business and painless
with awareness. Revivalist movement is basically an amalgamation of both modern and
traditional form of death and considers death to be a self-business and a psychological
process. This concept is widely accepted in today’s world with the mixing of different
cultures. It is usually observed in countries like the UK where different cultures come
together and thus such concept has been widely accepted. With people thinking more
logically and practically, this seems to be a perfect concept and so is accepted readily
by people. This suggests that change of time has also shifted the concept of death from
traditional to revival (Cozzolino, 2014).
The psychological and social aspect of grief
Bereavement and grief is a concept of people dealing with the dying person or the dead
person. Psychologically it becomes difficult for people to accept the death of a person.
The most accepted model for grief is the Kubler Ross model (1969) which describes
grief in 5 stages.
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Source: https://www.psycom.net/depression.central.grief.html
1. Denial: people are mostly in denial initially after the death of near one and it
becomes difficult to adjust to daily work without the presence of that person.
2. Anger: lack of presence of a person results in anger as to why the person was
taken away and why this is happening. People find it difficult to accept the death
of a person and are angered towards the concept of death.
3. Bargaining: this stage people feel that bargaining can bring back a person which
they know is impossible but still they believe and bargain with God and
sometimes indulge in rituals to bring back the dead.
4. Depression: lack of presence of the dead person and inability to stop the incident
depresses a person and at this stage, people are not able to continue with their
normal life without the person and are in a depression.
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5. Acceptance: after a time slowly people adjust to the world without the dead
person and continue with their daily life b accepting the death of a person and
moving forward in life.
The duration of every stage is different for different people and the grief is different. This
was the psychological aspect of grief and morning which is also described by another
psychologist. Averill in 1968 described grief in three stages shock, despair, and
recovery which is similar to that of Kubler Ross model. In 1972 Parkes described grief
by numbness, pinning, depression, and recovery and in 1982 Worden described it is
task form with accepting reality, going through pain, adjusting in the environment and
relocating emotionally. Rando in 1993 described grief and morning in six processes with
first being recognition of loss, reacting to separation, recollecting and re-experiencing,
relinquishing the old adjustments and readjusting and moving on, reinvesting. This
entire psychologist explained grief and mourning in a psychological manner but there is
also a social aspect to grieving which was not mentioned (Buglass, 2010). Socially
people mourned of a person by wearing a certain colour for a period of time or getting
involved in rituals for mourning and grieving. Also, the psychologist described grief and
mourning without considering the social relation of a person with the dead. Socially,
people are involved in different concept and rituals depending on their culture and
belief. Some consider it to be important for people to wear mourning clothes while
others feel depiction of mourning through clothes is wrong. In some culture, it is socially
acceptable to mourn for a month. For a person mourning and grieving for the dead, it is
difficult for them to socially interact with people because of the loss and bereavement.
Socially the person is totally cut off during the mourning period and because of this
there is a struggle in performing daily work and professionally also a person can suffer
loss. This suggests how grief and bereavement differ psychologically and socially and
how bot the concept is important in understanding the grief and bereavement of a
person (Ratcliffe, 2016).
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CONCLUSION
This assignment described death rates in the UK and explained how the number of
death in hospitals has increased because of hope and lack of acceptance of death.
Experiences of death are explained among different cultures and denial of death theory
is critically explained. The revivalist movement was explained by Walter 1994 depicting
3 forms of death traditional, modern and revivalist. The concept of grief and
bereavement was observed socially and psychologically and the different concept was
explained (Lagerkvist, 2013).
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REFERENCES
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11. Irish, D.P., Lundquist, K.F. and Nelsen, V.J., 2014. Ethnic variations in dying,
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