The correlation between believing in resurrection and attitudes toward death among elderly people

Since believing in resurrection and life after death exists in all religions, streng thening this belief leads to positive emotional states, increases adaptation to adverse life events, reduces the fear of death and gives a meaning to life. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the correlation between belief in the hereafter and the attitude of death in the elderly in Golestan province in 1397.

This descriptive correlation study was performed on 230 elderly people over 60 years old. The data collection tool is the standard questionnaire of resurrection belief and attitude to death. Data were collected by self-reporting method, and then were analyzed by descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Spearman and Kruskal-Wallis correlation coefficient).

The score of believing in resurrection was 70.62 + 8.41 and the score of attitude towards death was 128.08 + 16.58 among the samples. Pearson correlation test did not show a significant relationship between believing in resurrection and attitude towards death (r = 0.01, p = 0.9).  The results of this study showed that there is no significant relationship between belief in the hereafter and the attitude of death in the elderly. Therefore, it is necessary to pay more attention to this issue by understanding the spiritual needs of the elderly. Because spiritual care based on the needs of the elderly has an important role in promoting health and quality of life.