The relationship of self-transcendence, spirituality, and hope to positive personal death perspectives in healthy older adults

Abstract

The lifespan developmental framework views aging as a time of continued personal change and development. Death is perhaps the most salient developmental challenge older persons face. The relationship of self-transcendence, spirituality, and hope to personal death perspectives was the focus of this research. A descriptive correlational approach was used to study the relationships between these variables. Interviews were conducted with forty healthy adults aged sixty-five and older. Findings revealed that self-transcendence and spirituality were significantly correlated with positive death perspectives in this sample. Findings also revealed significant relationships between age and death perspectives, gender and self-transcendence, and gender and spirituality. No significant relationships were found between hope and death perspectives and hopelessness and death perspectives.