Death anxiety: an analysis of an evolving concept.
This article identifies defining attributes, antecedents, and consequences of the concept of death anxiety using Rodgers (2000) evolutionary method of concept analysis. The literature on death anxiety was systematically reviewed for the years 1980-2007. Articles were summarized and coded. Inductive data analyses resulted in defining attributes (emotion, cognitive, experiential, developmental, sociocultural shaping, and source of motivation), antecedents (stressful environments and the experience of unpredictable circumstances, diagnosis of a life-threatening illness or the experience of a life-threatening event, and experiences with death and dying), and consequences (adaptive and maladaptive presentations). Results are important because little systematic inquiry of death anxiety exists in nursing literature.
Lehto
Rebecca Helen
RH
Michigan State University, College of Nursing, Owen Graduate Center, East Lansing, MI 48824-1317, USA. rebecca.lehto@hc.msu.edu
Stein
Karen Farchaus
KF
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D001293:Attitude to Death; D003210:Concept Formation; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D003717:Denial, Psychological; D005239:Fear; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006803:Human Development; D006801:Humans; D007063:Identity Crisis; D008016:Life Change Events; D016294:Models, Nursing; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009042:Motivation; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D012931:Social Environment