“Every Time You Deal With a Death You Think, ‘One Day’ … ”: The Emotional and Spiritual Effects of Dealing With Aging, Dying, and Death for Staff in a Residential Aged Care Facility

Abstract

Statistics show that staff in Australian Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACFs) are commonly middle-aged women, often facing the deaths of residents alongside the aging and death of their own parents and their own advancing years. This exploratory qualitative study aimed to learn more about the emotional and spiritual costs and/or benefits for staff in this context. Data from the study suggested that frequent encounters with death and old age had affected many participants’ attitudes to life and death. While some saw it as an incentive to “enjoy the day,” there was also evidence of existential anxiety and fear of aging.

KEYWORDS:

• aged care
• aging
• anxiety
• deaths
• death anxiety
• disability
• dying
• existential anxiety
• fear
• fear of aging
• meaning
• nursing homes
• residents
• staff