Transitions and Ageing: Psychosocial Responses to Death in Elderly

This essay provides an in-depth analysis of the transitions and experiences of elderly individuals as they navigate the processes of death and dying. It begins by examining theoretical frameworks, such as terror management theory, to understand the fears and anxieties surrounding death, particularly in the context of an aging population. The essay then explores the psychosocial, existential, and familial responses to death, including the impact on family members and the role of palliative care and advance care planning. It also discusses various coping mechanisms employed by the elderly, such as generativity and the re-evaluation of life perspectives, to mitigate fears of death and enhance acceptance of mortality. The paper concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding these transitions to support older adults and their families, facilitating a more positive adjustment to the end of life.

Running head: TRANSITIONS AND AGEING
TRANSITIONS AND AGEING
Name of the Student:
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Introduction
Death is regarded as one of life’s certainties and common events for all persons. Thus, all
individuals with nearest and dearest will eventually leave alone. Ageing is recognized as
uncompromising factors as they result to demise, which is identified as an accepted part of life
and occurs on regular basis. However, when death takes its occurrences, there can be observed
an effect on the family, friends as well as associates of the dead, the extent of which typically
relies on whether the decease has been regarded as an expected or unexpected one. According to
Meier et al. (2016), the emotions associated with grief tends to be particular to the person plus
his or her connection with the late and the time and way person has died along with other
contributing determinants. Perrels et al. (2014) have noted that when a juvenile is deceased the
tearful experience is immense and usually touches every individual especially parents and family
members. However, the grieving practice of aged is seldom shared or heard. Majority of
bereaved individuals are able to rise above their anguish. However, in 15% of cases pain and
anguish tends to become prolonged or complicated. Fleming et al. (2016) have observed a
complex frequency of grief in the age series of 75 to 85 years, thus signifying that the aged tend
to face greater level of complexities and bereavements in coping with a loss. The following paper
will analyse the experience elderly people experiences while undergoing the transition phase of
death or dying. In addition to it, the paper will describe a transition faced by older adults and
includes psychosocial, existential as well as familial responses to death. Also the paper will
analyze the way can respond to aid older adults and family members experiencing challenges of
demise.
Discussion

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Various theoretical aspects exist to explain apprehensions and qualms of death related to
terror management theory (TMT). These theories state that all individuals are automatically
compelled towards existence and persistent behaviour while concurrently they gain ideas of their
inevitable morality. Thus, there can be witnessed potential for them to instinctively encounter
terror and pain of death. Maxfield, John and Pyszczynski (2014)have noted that socialization into
cultural world perspective characterized by rationality, predictability as well as stability usually
endows with shield against such distress as it permits individuals to produce norms of
significance for constructive life and behaviours of surpassing demise. One of such methods is
by means of raised self-worth resultant from attaining the values and principles of culture,
accomplishment within the principles in addition to the support attained from nearby association
with family and relatives. Consequently, fears and apprehensions related to bereavement are
typically subjugated from mindful awareness. However, the tools serving to subdue uncertainties
may collapse when death inducements are existing and mindful fears might arise (Jack et al.,
2016). When apprehensions of death or bereavement appear into mindful awareness, people tend
to practise such direct protection tools as rejecting their weakness, isolating them or via
interruptions to cope up with intimidation. Furthermore, at a profound level, the tools of self-
worth and conviction in the cultural world approach act to sustain the overpowering. However,
such a theory has not yet been implemented to elderly people who are most susceptible to death.
Comprehensive studies of Alftberg et al. (2018) have noted that as people grow old, they absorb
hopes regarding long life from cultural standards related to prolonged existence of associates of
their society in numerous ways. For example, the predominance of aged adults in memorial
columns, selling of cremation plans, information in the media and further indicating to the aged
individuals that demise is no longer sometime in the distant future.

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Furthermore, a range of pointers reveal elevated susceptibility to physical and cognitive
weakening in elderly adults aged late seventies and eighties. Perrels et al. (2014) have cited
example of a raise in chronic disease as well as mobility limitations which results to around 22%
of those who are over 85 years in nursing homes in comparison to 1%of elderly individuals aged
around 65 years to 74 years range and 7% of those in the 75 years to 85 years age range who
have shown greater rate of occurrence of heat connected mortalities among those more than 75
years of age as evaluated to 65 years age range who show elevated incidence of Alzheimer’s
disease. As a result, elderly individuals notions of cultural standards of long life along with their
own deterioration in physical health conditions and psychological ability is linked to individually
supposed life expectancy, such as they obtain increased level of understanding their own
proximity to bereavement or restricted survival time (Murray et al., 2017). Meanwhile,
Swerissen, Duckett and Farmer (2014) have opined that the clash between the inclination
towards longevity and the awareness of restricted survival time raises tensions of bereavement or
the idea of dying among elderly adults in this age range. Additionally, such conflicting
conditions at this age are critically concerned with total destruction and extinction of self-
identity. Moreover, this psychological turmoil of death emerges a transition period that entails
cognitive as well as emotional redeployment together with reinterpretation of perceptions on life
and bereavement to seek methods of mitigating uncertainties or worries of death and in due
course amplify the acceptance of death. Meanwhile, family members often undergo severe fear
and pain of watching their elderly family members weaken until death at their residence or in rest
home or hospitals. A case of a family member can be taken as an example who observed her
mother’s painful death. Steffy Jason expressed that there is nothing more painful to hear the
unremitting scream of own mother and realize the severity of her pain and suffering. As per the

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case, when Steffy’s mother has been shifted to hospital after six weeks her condition
deteriorated. Such a worsening health condition has been considered to be severely excruciating
and agonizing and realizing the fact that her mother has been counting her last days of life in
utmost misery and there is no help which can improve her health conditions. Such an experience
of observing near ones die tends to affect the rest of the family members as well (Iverach,
Menzies & Menzies, 2014).
Nursing homes are regarded as places where elderly individuals spend their last days
before bereavement. Teno et al. (2015) have noted that palliative care entails discussions which
are anticipated to aid dying individuals and further to form a closing of components which
formed life. Such form of care further advances an acceptance of gradual loss of life. Aged
individuals losing longevity due to multiple morbidities or only due to ‘old age’ have recently
attained far a reduced amount of this type of care. According to Silveira, Wiitala and Piette
(2014), in a number of countries across the world with a great percentage of all demises among
elder individuals above 65 years happen in domestic care facilities. Even though staff in
hospitals try to offer upright care for ageing individuals in their closing phases of life, applied
routines and daily life instead of death and dying which are deliberated as suitable subjects to
argue with the populations. At this juncture, responsive and existential requirements and
anxieties are often evaded because of indecision about in what way to talk about such topics.
Furthermore, the values of palliative care which have been established within focused palliative
care and hospitals tend to lack in nursing homes as they conventionally have not been of
systematic education or teaching of employees expertise in palliative plus oncology units
(Iverach, Menzies & Menzies, 2014). Whereas, the nursing professionals attempt to offer
respectable care for elderly individuals in their concluding stages of life along with hands-on

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routines and regular life expectancy instead of expiry and dying with residents. Comprehensive
studies of Teno et al. (2015) have shown a communication deficit regarding existential issues
related to death and dying between nursing staffs and elderly persons. Reports of Leclerc et al.
(2014) have mentioned that palliative care is a unified part of healthcare systems of developed
nations, which includes national procedures meant for effective palliative care at the ultimate
stage of life and a national platform in lieu of palliative care. Nonetheless, the excellence and
value of palliative care even now shows inadequacies and random for several older residents in
hospitals. Meanwhile, as per the Advance Care Planning (ACP) approvals from the European
Association for Palliative Care, scheduling and providing palliative care must be taken into
justification related to the demands, needs and requirements of patients along with resources and
most effective medical supervision (Caswell et al., 2015). However, Swerissen, Duckett and
Farmer (2014) have noted that even when the implementation of ACP, there can be witnessed a
deficiency of communication between elderly individuals and their families along with health
care experts regarding their desires. Nonetheless, it is important to note that selecting appropriate
moment and accurate wording tend to have significant impact on the significance of the
communication in addition to the nursing professionals who know the elderly individuals well
have been taken into consideration as the perfect group to initiate an ACP conversation.
In prime of life, people must challenge fears of demise emerging from the truths of a
restricted time left to live in addition to rising loss of associates, intellectual as well as sensory
shortages in addition to physical frailty. According to Periyakoil, Neri and Kraemer (2015),
under such circumstances an elderly might question the way they are able to deal with such fears.
Swerissen, Duckett and Farmer (2014) have opined that elderly individuals use of denial and
prevention of managing apprehensions and fear of death and dying but proposed that these

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approaches and mechanisms show tendency to fails becomes more likely. However, Periyakoil,
Neri and Kraemer (2015) have explained that a number of strategies applied by elders to deal
with death suspicions. Furthermore, a number of coping and problem-focused coping
mechanisms have been identified with the establishment of positive life events. Drawing
relevance to these factors, Alftberg et al. (2018) have claimed that many older individuals have
identified generativity as one of the mechanisms for coping with the apprehension of dying or
death. Generativity is related to the effort of providing some values and principles of oneself to
future generations or further to aid others in general. Jack et al. (2016) are of the opinion that, by
leaving some aspect of one to others, individuals tend to gain a symbolic immortality and thus
exercise certain level of control over the idea of dying or death. For instance, in recent times,
number of elderly individuals wants to voice for their grand children’s future ambitions and
inculcate values and principles of their families to the future generations. On the other hand, few
aged adults tend to refurbish their perspectives to undervalue life and perceive the process of
dying or death as a release (Leclerc et al., 2014). Such reorganization in thinking primarily
entails certain point of detachment from life and thus is considered as a part of a procedure
approaching to the reception of death or dying even though not essentially accepting something
beyond death. For example, a number of elderly individuals have articulated a wider viewpoint
regarding the sequence of life and individuals’ place in the world.
Conclusion
Hence, to conclude, an increase in some types of fears and apprehension of death and
considering death or dying is regarded as an extinction of life. Furthermore, the task of the
transition period is intended for older individuals in order to reorganize their perceptions and
behavioural patterns of dealing with their elevated level of death fears by implementing certain

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forms of policies already prevailing in majority of adults' collections. Thus, the result of handling
is improved adjustment to the conclusion of life with an augmented reception of dying or demise.
Furthermore, it has been noted that the inconsolable process of older individuals do not vary
from that of any other age cluster especially family members of the elderly individuals. Thus,
they will necessitate the kind of assistance and advocacy deliberated for younger individuals
during grieving or emotional turmoil. In addition to this, the cognitive as well as sensitive
reorganization suggested by the transition model is perceived as aiding aged embrace death or
dying and subsequently prepare emotionally for active existing in their concluding phase of life.

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