Components of a Good Death for Older Adults: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background and Objectives: A good death, as the final part of a good life, has great importance in older adults. The current study aimed to determine the components of a good death for older adults. Methods: This is a systematic review study. A search was first performed in online databases of Scopus, PubMed and Web of Science using the keywords “older adult”, “aging”, “aged”, “good death”, “dying well”, and “successful death” in English on articles published from 1969 to 2022, using the PRISMA Checklist. Observational studies in English with available full texts and those conducted on the elderly population and caregivers and family members of older adults were included in the review. The search yielded 1736 articles, of which 6 articles were finally selected for the review. Results: The quality of the reviewed studies were moderate to high using the STROBE checklist. Ten components were extracted for a good death which included: Physical, psychological, spiritual, social, economic, care, cultural, place of death, time of death, and way of death. Conclusion: Understanding the concept of a good death and paying attention to its dimensions in the elderly is essential, especially for their end-of-life care. Healthcare providers should survey older patients’ perceptions of a good death. Considering the importance of this issue, the lack of a comprehensive definition of a good death for older adults, and the low number of studies conducted in this field, further investigations are recommended.

Keywords

• aging
• death
• systematic review