Fear of death in medical professionals and social workers

Abstract

This study aimed to learn how professional helpers perceive or think about the fear of their death, its causes, and ways of dealing with it by employees in professional assisting facilities. In 2010-2014, the authors carried out an international questionnaire-based research project on the perception of fear of death in the context of thanatopedagogical relational replacement therapy on 791 medical care professionals and social workers. Regardless of demographic factors, the respondents pointed to loneliness and fear as the aspects of death in a similar way. Most of the respondents admitted the abandonment of relatives and relatives' suffering due to their death. There are significant differences between nationalities in some types of fear, such as the fear of being buried alive or leaving matters unfinished. Anxiety related to the perception of death is an existential experience that can occur among medical professionals and social workers.

The Thanatopedagogical Context of the Multidimensionality of Mourning

“…Czy życie i cierpienie mają sens?". Pytania te odnalazły swoje odzwierciedlenie w badaniach nad autopercepcją lęku tanatycznego (Binnebesel, 2011b(Binnebesel, , 2012(Binnebesel, , 2017: "Co zrobiłam, że Bóg zabrał mi córkę, co musiałam zrobić" 29 . "Gdzie on był, jak Pawełek umierał, gdzie był, gdzie był ten skurwiel, skurwiel, bo Bóg nie może być tak parszywy, Bóg nie może być taki, nie ten, w którego wierzyłam, tego Boga już nie ma, nie ma, NIE MA!!!!"…”

Communicating a negative prognosis by primary care physicians

“…Kontakt lekarza POZ z pacjentem umierającym może wzbudzać u lekarza lęk przed jego własną śmiercią. Przepracowanie lęku tanatycznego może stanowić istotny element wzmacniający lekarza POZ w jego relacji z pacjentem o niekorzystnym rokowaniu [19].…”

Attitudes toward Death among Health Care Professionals in the Balkan Region

“…Facing death and dying has become an everyday life of HCPs, particularly of those working in institutions caring for patients with cancer and in palliative care settings. This constant exposure gives rise to a mixture of intense emotions, intensifying the fear of death on both conscious and unconscious levels [ 9 ].…”

“…As an existential experience, death influences every aspect of a person’s life, behavior and functioning: “Often experienced, it may also result from unworked everyday matters or incorrect beliefs about oneself, death, and life” [ 9 ]. Constant caring for dying people and their suffering inevitably raises questions about the finitude of one’s own life [ 9 ].…”

“…As an existential experience, death influences every aspect of a person’s life, behavior and functioning: “Often experienced, it may also result from unworked everyday matters or incorrect beliefs about oneself, death, and life” [ 9 ]. Constant caring for dying people and their suffering inevitably raises questions about the finitude of one’s own life [ 9 ]. The fear of death, described as “apprehension, worry or fear related to one’s own death or dying” by the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association (NANDA), represents one of the deeply ingrained basic human instincts.…”