Perceptions of death among children in Sweden Ahmadi, Fereshteh; Ristiniemi, Jari; Linblad, Inger ...
International journal of children's spirituality,
10/2019, Volume:
24, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The article discusses children's thoughts about death. Research was carried out in two elementary schools in Sweden among 40 children between 6 and 9 years of age, data were collected through text ...reading, movie viewing and dialogues with children. The main results reveal child-specific thoughts about the end of life, i.e., ideas children construe on their own. The findings also show society- and time-specific thoughts that children take from their societal and cultural context. The article proposes an integrative approach between these two: it is only when the categories of child-specific and society- and time-specific thoughts are combined that we get a fair picture of children's perceptions of death. The main finding is that children form ideas of their own; they are not completely under the influence of their societal and cultural context. Children take over ideas from their surrounding society but they also express ideas produced by themselves.
The aim of this study is to determine how the theme of death in preschool children’s literature is perceived by preschool teachers. For this purpose, four children’s books were examined by nine ...preschool teachers and their opinions were recorded. The research was carried out with a qualitative approach in accordance with the phenomenological research design. The examined books were evaluated in terms of the treatment of the mourning process, the treatment of the concept of death and formal characteristics. The results showed that the preschool teacher’s personal perceptions, prejudices, feelings and thoughts, apart from the scientific criteria, play a significant role in the handling of the books on the subject of death. On the other hand, it was seen that there is no consensus on the transfer of taboo topics such as death by the preschool teachers with correct and scientifically valid methods. For this reason, experimental studies can be planned and effective teaching methods can be developed on the teaching of taboo subjects, especially death, to preschool children. It can be argued that more research is needed to identify the sources of perceptions of teachers who play a leading role in teaching taboo topics to children, and according to the results of this study, they should receive more professional training on teaching taboo topics.
It is important to understand how the perception of death affects the competence to cope with death.
To explore whether the perception of death has an indirect effect on competence to cope with death ...through the mediation of attitude toward death and meaning of life.
A total of 786 nurses from Hunan Province, China, selected by random sampling method and asked to complete an online electronic questionnaire between October and November 2021 were included in the study.
The nurses' scored 125.39 ± 23.88 on the competence to cope with death. There was a positive correlation among perception of death, competence to cope with death, the meaning of life, and attitude toward death. There were three mediating pathways: the separate mediating effect of natural acceptance and meaning of life, and the chain mediating effect of natural acceptance and meaning of life.
The nurses' competence to cope with death was moderate. Perception of death could indirectly and positively predict nurses' competence to cope with death by enhancing natural acceptance or sense of meaning in life. In addition, perception of death could improve natural acceptance and then enhance the sense of meaning in life to positively predict nurses' competence to cope with death.
Dit artikel bestudeert de symbolische omkadering van het stervensproces en de dood van enkele hervormingsabten uit elfde-eeuws Lotharingen. De narratieve bronnen waarin het verscheiden van een abt ...wordt beschreven, blijken enerzijds aan te sluiten bij bestaande hagiografische topoi en monastieke modellen omtrent de juiste manier van sterven. Anderzijds tonen deze bronnen ook een duidelijk eigen inbreng en visie van deze leiders op het stervensproces. Door middel van betekenisvolle handelingen, symbolische laatste woorden, de aanwezigheid van hun netwerk aan het sterfbed en de plaatsbepaling van het graf, probeerden deze charismatici zoveel mogelijk accenten van hun leiderschap een laatste maal door te geven aan de gemeenschap, zodat ze ook na hun dood een blijvende invloed uit konden oefenen. Dit onderzoek naar abbatiale doodsbeleving brengt derhalve een dieper inzicht in de hervormingsideologie uit deze periode teweeg.
Mourir comme “ performance” : un regard sur les aspects symboliques de la mort de quelques réformateurs lotharingiens du XIe siècle.
Cet article examine l’encadrement symbolique du processus de la mort de quelques abbés réformateurs actifs dans la Lotharingie du XIe siècle. L’étude des récits narratifs concernant les derniers moments de ces individus révèle, d’une part, l’attachement du groupe «lotharingien » d’abbés réformateurs et de leurs biographes aux traditions littéraires de la «mort sainte » . D’autre part, elle montre également que ces abbés ont souhaité faire une contribution nouvelle à la symbolique du processus de mort. À travers des gestes et des paroles significatives, de la mise en scène du lit de mort ainsi que de la présence d’individus appartenant aux réseaux personnels de l’abbé, et finalement du choix du lieu de la tombe, se dessinait un discours cohérent concernant la façon dont cette génération interprétait la fonction abbatiale, et dont elle envisageait la continuation après sa propre disparition. Ainsi l’étude du processus de la mort dans ces milieux monastiques contribue à une meilleure compréhension de l’idéologie des réformateurs de cette époque.
Dying as symbolic performance of leadership : a view on the descriptions of the death of eleventh-century Lotharingian monastic reformers.
This article focuses on the symbolic context of how several reform abbots of eleventh-century Lotharingia shaped their process of dying. The narrative sources that describe their deaths on the one hand continued the tradition of hagiographical topoi and monastic models of the proper way to die. On the other hand, the sources emphasize that these abbots had a very particular view on the process of dying. Through significant acts, symbolic last words, the presence of individuals belonging to their network at their deathbed and the choice of the location of their tomb, these leaders tried to symbolically represent the most important aspects of their leadership, so that they could continue to influence their flocks after their demise. As a result of these attitudes, study of “ abbatial deaths” likely contributes to our understanding of reform ideology in this period.
Vanommeslaeghe Helena. Sterven als symbolische performance van leiderschap: een kijk op de doodsbeschrijvingen van enkele elfde-eeuwse Lotharingische kloosterhervormers. In: Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire, tome 92, fasc. 2, 2014. Histoire médiévale, moderne et contemporaine Middeleeuwse, moderne en hedendaagse geschiedenis. pp. 231-263.
This study investigated the impact of age, cognitive level and anxiety level on children's conception of death in humans and animals. Children from three age groups (6-7; 8-9; 10-11) were divided ...into high and low anxiety levels and high and low cognitive abilities. Then, the children were administered two questionnaires on human and animal death. The findings show that there was a main effect of age, anxiety and cognition on the conception of both animal and human death. Human death scores were higher than animal death scores. The interactions indicate that anxiety has a stronger impact on cognitively high subjects than on cognitively low subjects and that cognition affects the animal death concept more than the human death concept.
Purpose
We aimed to describe the Canadian public’s understanding and perception of how death is determined in Canada, their level of interest in learning about death and death determination, and ...their preferred strategies for informing the public.
Methods
We conducted a nationwide cross-sectional survey of a representative sample of the Canadian public. The survey presented two scenarios of a man who met current criteria for neurologic death determination (scenario 1) and a man who met current criteria for circulatory death determination (scenario 2). Survey questions evaluated understanding of how death is determined, acceptance of death determination by neurologic and circulatory criteria, and interest and preferred strategies in learning more about the topic.
Results
Among 2,000 respondents (50.8% women;
n
= 1,015), nearly 67.2% believed that the man in scenario 1 was dead (
n
= 1,344) and 81.2% (
n
= 1,623) believed that the man in scenario 2 was dead. Respondents who believed that the man was not dead or were unsure endorsed several factors that may increase their agreement with the determination of death, including requiring more information about how death was determined, seeing the results of brain imaging/tests, and a third doctor’s opinion. Predictors of disbelief that the man in scenario 1 is dead were younger age, being uncomfortable with the topic of death, and subscribing to a religion. Predictors of disbelief that the man in scenario 2 is dead were younger age, residing in Quebec (compared with Ontario), having a high school education, and subscribing to a religion. Most respondents (63.3%) indicated interest in learning more about death and death determination. Most respondents preferred to receive information about death and death determination from their health care professional (50.9%) and written information provided by their health care professional (42.7%).
Conclusion
Among the Canadian public, the understanding of neurologic and circulatory death determination is variable. More uncertainty exists with death determination by neurologic criteria than with circulatory criteria. Nevertheless, there is a high level of general interest in learning more about how death is determined in Canada. These findings provide important opportunities for further public engagement.
Though provider and patient perceptions of death are characterized in the adult population literature, there is limited information related to providers' perceptions in pediatric and neonatal ...patients. The purpose of this study was to better understand how interprofessional care team members perceive and experience neonatal and pediatric end-of-life situations.
This survey questionnaire was administered to interprofessional providers following their participation in an institutional workshop, as part of an ongoing institutional effort to improve end-of-life experiences for patients/family and providers. Interprofessional care providers completed an electronic survey consisting of closed-ended and one open-ended question to elicit their perceptions of their participation in end of life care for a recent neonatal/pediatric patient in the period before the child's death.
The qualitative analysis of 306 free-text responses commenting on the deaths of 138 patients, contained within 880 completed mixed-method surveys, is described. Thematic analysis of the free text discovered three primary themes from the data: favorable aspects of the death experience, unfavorable aspects of the experience, and combined favorable and unfavorable aspects. Four subthemes contributed to the themes; namely, language, parental presence, trust/rapport in provider relationships and inclusion in decision-making, communication, and culture.
Multiple factors contribute to how interprofessional care providers perceive end-of-life care experiences for neonatal/pediatric patients. The same death may be perceived differently by different providers.
Understanding favorable and unfavorable aspects of providing end-of-life care will support strategies to provide resources, education and support to facilitate coping and resiliency in care providers.
•Limited studies have evaluated interprofessional care providers' perceptions of death in the pediatric and neonatal patients.•Providers' perceptions of these deaths are influenced by contextual features, parent presence or absence, and trust/rapport.•Understanding provider perceptions may provide opportunities to support to coping and resilience.
One of the primary visual representations of the
danse macabre
, as well as an accompanying poetic text, may be found in a book printed in Paris by Guyot Marchant in 1485, based on the frescoes and ...inscription painted on the inner wall of the Cemetery of the Innocents. The metaphor of the mirror (presented in the preface of this 1486 edition), is critical to understanding the didactic intent of the
danse macabre
. Beyond the obvious mirror effects—the viewer/reader finding himself reflected in one of the secular or ecclesiastical figures of the social hierarchy represented by the dance, and also each living figure finding himself grotesquely mirrored by his corpse-partner—there is other, more subtle mirror play to be found within the text, and, occasionally, a mirror relationship between the image and the corresponding text. This article explores various manifestations of the mirror in Marchant’s
Danse macabre
, incorporating a few selected images from Marchant’s book.
Investigations regarding patients' concerns about death have focused on the importance of autonomy, resolution of concerns, family relationships, and religiosity, and relied on data from physicians, ...nurses, family members, and healthy older adults. Few studies have focused on patients with diseases that have short-term survival rates. This study examined lung cancer patients' perceptions of a good death. One hundred lung cancer patients answered open-ended questions about what a good death was and completed measures assessing coping, spirituality, religious coping, and life satisfaction. Content analysis revealed 4 themes describing a good death: (a) during sleep, (b) pain-free, (c) peaceful, and (d) quick. These findings have implications for those caring for terminally ill patients as the 4 themes differ from those derived from studies of more heterogeneous patients, their families, and health care providers.
This project was undertaken to ascertain the perceptions of a group of Taiwan’s fourth-year bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) students regarding death and help expected from nurses during the ...dying process. Within the Chinese culture, death is one of the most important life issues. However, in many Chinese societies it is difficult for people to reveal their deepest feelings to their significant others or loved ones. It was in this context that this project was developed because little is known about how Taiwan’s nursing students perceive death and the dying process. Using an open-ended, self-report questionnaire, 110 senior BSN students recorded their thoughts on: (1) their fears before physical death; (2) afterlife destinations; and (3) the help they would expect from nurses when dying. The data were analyzed using a three-layer qualitative thematic analysis. The students’ reported needs during the dying process were directed towards three main goals: (1) help in reaching the ‘triple targets of individual life’; (2) help in facilitating in-depth support so that both the dying person and significant others can experience a blessed farewell; and (3) help in reaching a destination in the afterlife. The results support the belief of dying as a transition occurring when life weans itself from the mortal world and prepares for an afterlife.
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