Positive dying and resiliency in later life: A qualitative study

This article examines resiliency factors and processes of older adults who experienced positive dying from their perspectives. A qualitative study was conducted based on interviews with 16 hospice patients and their primary caregivers. Core resiliency factors identified included empowering relationships with significant others, spiritual beliefs and practices, ability to skillfully confront mortality, and a stable caregiving environment. These older adults' psychological processes were characterized by a dialectical tension of surrender and resistance, and a creation of life-affirming narratives through which they derived meaning of death and dying. Aspects of personal growth and psychosocial and spiritual well-being were interrelated in these dying older adults' experience of life fulfillment. The examples of resilient older adults suggest that greater attention should be devoted to the interrelatedness of spiritual and psychosocial well-being and human development. Developing an understanding of the positive potential at the end of life is essential to form new ideas in end-of-life care.