Acceptance of aging, death anxiety and spiritual well-being of middle aged and elderly Sacred Heart Sisters of India

• Main Author: Arukalil, Genetrix Thresia
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1995
• Subjects: Aging; Fear of death; Middle age; Spiritual life; Aged; Monasticism and religious orders for women > India; Monastic and religious life of women; Counseling; Counseling Psychology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/1699
• Institution: De La Salle University

This research finds out the degree of acceptance of aging, level of death anxiety, and spiritual well-being of the middle-aged and old-aged Sisters of the Sacred Heart Congregation (SHC) of India. The descriptive-comparative correlational research design was used. The middle-aged Sisters belonged to the 40-60 years' bracket. Those whose age was over 60 years belonged to the old-aged Sister category. Data were collected by using three instruments. These were the (1) Questionnaire on Graceful Aging (GAS), (2) Death Anxiety Questionnaire, and (3) Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWB).The 165 participants were drawn from the 16 communities of SHC. Among the total respondents, 85 were middle-aged and 80 were old-aged. Means and standard deviations were computed. The t-test and the Pearson r were also employed. The findings of the study were:1. The middle-aged Sisters experienced an average level of death anxiety, acceptance of being, and a high level of spiritual well-being 2. The old-aged Sisters experienced an average level of death anxiety, a high acceptance of aging, and a high degree of spiritual well-being 3. There was a significant difference between the middle-aged and the old-aged Sisters on their attitude towards aging and death anxiety. No significant difference was seen in two groups' spiritual well-being 4. There was a significant inverse correlation between the attitude towards aging and death anxiety and, 5. No significant relationships existed between spiritual well-being and (a) acceptance of aging as well as (b) death anxiety. It was concluded that the more the Sister accepted aging as a reality, the less would her anxiety about dying be. Spiritual well-being did not make any difference in the acceptance of aging and in the anxiety for death and vice versa.