South Korea is showing signs of being more vulnerable to the mental health of the elderly with the rapid aging of the population and an increasing number of elderly single households. The high levels of depression and the explosion of suicidal mortali...
South Korea is showing signs of being more vulnerable to the mental health of the elderly with the rapid aging of the population and an increasing number of elderly single households. The high levels of depression and the explosion of suicidal mortality attest to the maximization of the need to enhance self-integration and reduce depression by meaningfully reflecting on past lives and accepting future lives positively. It is also necessary to provide preparatory death education as a part of social efforts to reduce the anxiety over the death of significant others and their upcoming death. The recent enactment of the「Hospice, Palliative Care and Medical Care Decision Making Law」has raised the concern about the dignity of death, but there is virtually not many opportunities to access to the environment or educational program to prepare for and confront the actual death. That is why the importance of the development and implementation of a death preparation education program which provides real understanding of death, practical knowledge and information on death, reflection on the meaning of life and death.
The purpose of the study is to investigate the factors that should be included in the death preparation education program suitable for the elderly in Korea today. In order to explore the elements that must be included in the death preparation education program, a systematic comparative analysis with current domestic and abroad death education programs was carried out. The proposed program was evaluated through its in-depth interviews with death education specialists to provide a new direction of death preparation education. Most death education experts have suggested that it is necessary for the program to be included an understanding of death, a variety of information about what to prepare and what to do in the process of death, mourning for bereavement and healing of loss. Suicide is also a must-have education that clearly defines the distinction between the dignity of life and death. Therefore, a death preparation education program has been proposed that includes insufficient loss, grief, and mourning sessions for Korean elderly today.
key words: death preparation education for elderly, self-integration, ability to cope with death, mourning, treatment of loss