Journal of Human Care Studies, Vol.4
October 2003, pp.99-107

Semantic analysis of witnesses to the death of an elderly family member
Kyoko ISHII*, Masuko UEHARA**, and Hitoshi UENO***
Abstract
The purposes of this study were to determine what exactly is recognition of the acceptance of the potential deathof a family member, what is the recognition of the other family members regarding the death itself and how such
recognition affects their recovery from the event.
The method was questionnaire to 56 subjects. The results are as follows. The subjects comprised females (82%);
age range from 60 to 75 years of age, and half of them took care of a dying family member for less than 6 months.
Regarding persons who had been cared until their death, parents comprised 57.1%, followed by spouses at 30.4%.
Regarding place of death, hospitals accounted for 76.8% and cancer was the main cause of death with the largest ratioof 32.1%. Although 23.2% of the dying seemed to accept their own death, regarding other family members, their true
feelings were unclear in 37.5%, which was the largest ratio.
In the case that the dying person was female and a parent, the largest number of them appeared to accept their own
death, as did other family members. In the case of those who died in hospital and where their ages were 75 years orolder, their real feelings were unclear (the largest ratio). Regarding witnesses of the death, other family members
accepted the death (14.3%); those who regretted having informed the dying person of their impending death (12.5%) or
had feelings of emptiness (10.7%). Those who witnessed their family member's death became more conscious of theirown health, began to have different ideas on death and to participate in social activities including volunteer work.
Witnessing a parent's death influenced both sons and daughters on their choice of a course in life. The effective ways
to come to terms with the experience were: being engaged in busy work, having a role in household work, being
encouraged by the other family members and friends and talking about memories of the dead etc. The recovery offamily members of the dead who accepted the death was affected by the encouragement of other family members andfriends and by participation in volunteer activities etc. In the case where the feelings of the deceased were unclear, theother family members were encouraged to recover by being engaged in busy work and traveling etc. It took about one
year for the family members to recover from the experience.
(elderly people)(Key words)(accepting death)(experience nursing until death)(semantic analysis)

90%
QOL
***
***
2003

63

Osaka City University College of Nursing
Osaka Prefecture College of Nursing
Osaka Shoin Women s University
2003 7 23(recovery)

Feifel1959

Templer 19701994

1999

1996
2000

Kubler-Ross 1969
1998 2000

1995

34%
68%
O
56

231Worden 1991
55KJ

Parks 1983

911102

1236

11676.8 %

21
136

8775

Table 575
175
667

1

Table 6

Table 7

5135
3

18
1087

1996

1
1996

6
166%

1995

Abraham 1924
1991

Abraham, k 1924.

, 1993.

1995.
2,, 33-66.

1998.

, 8 . 5 . 412-416.
2000.

29, 40, 4 , 292-298

39

2000
.

, 23, 1 , 71-76

1996

.

,133-136.
.

1996,
172, 107-116
1994

1995

.
, 46, 537-564,,

Kubler-ross 1971.
(1969 On death and dying. Macmillan.)Parks, C. M. & Weiss, R. S 1983 Recovery from Bereave1987
ment. New York: Basic Books.
.
1995. Bulletin of the Schoolof Education, Nagoya University (Education Psychology),
42, 149-156.
Templer, D., 1970 The construction and validation of adeath anxiety scale. The Journal of General Psychology,
82, 165-177.
1996
.
,
3
1 , 5 -13
1995.
2, 137-144,
Worden, J. W. 1993.
,, (1991 Grif Counseling Therapy. Spring
Publishing Company, N.Y)