Gallery Presentation International Positive Psychology Association 7th IPPA World Congress 2021

Do views on what we want before we die differ for people who are bereaved when compared to those not bereaved? (#281)

Lauren Miller-Lewis 1 2 3 , Deb Rawlings 3 , Jennifer Tieman 3 , Madelaine De Valle 4
  1. Central Queensland University, Wayville, SA, Australia
  2. College of Psychology, School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, CQUniversity Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia
  3. Research Centre for Palliative Care, Death and Dying, Flinders University , Adelaide, SA, Australia
  4. School of Psychology, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia

Background

As part of a Massive-Open-Online-Course about death, students completed a mortality-awareness activity based on the work of Candy Chang, where participants were asked to complete the statement: “Before I Die, I want to…” 

Hypotheses/Research Questions

We aimed to determine if responses to an activity asking what individuals want before they die differed thematically for people who had experienced the death of someone close to them in the past 5-years compared to those who had not. 

Sample Characteristics and Sample Size

n=738 community-based participants completed the activity, and a sub-sample of n=267 provided bereavement-status information. The sample were predominantly female, aged 40+, university-educated, and residing in Australia, and 76% were bereaved.  

Design

Mixed-Methods including qualitative and descriptive analyses were used. 

Results

Key themes emerging from responses to “before-I-die” included the desire to do an activity (like travel); family-related wishes (including experience family milestones); personal aspirations; happiness; live life fully; the greater good; love and peace. Responses were also able to be distinguished as being inward-facing (about the self), and outward-facing (about others). There were similar proportions of bereaved and non-bereaved participants who mentioned doing an activity, family-related, personal aspirations, happiness, love, getting prepared for death, and legacy, in their ‘before I die’ responses. However, bereaved participants were much less likely than non-bereaved participants to mention ‘experiencing family milestones’ or ‘living life fully’ in their ‘before I die’ responses. In contrast, bereaved participants more commonly mentioned ‘peace’ and ‘the greater good’ in their responses.

Scientific Contribution

Thoughts about what people want to address before they die may be affected by bereavement, perhaps altering how a person views the world and makes meaning from life. This may inform conceptualizations of eudaimonic wellbeing following the death of a loved one, and inform the way we approach and assess meaning-making following bereavement.

 

  1. Rawlings D., Miller-Lewis, L., & Tieman, J. (2018). Community views on what I want ‘Before I Die’. Behavioral Sciences, 8, 111.
  • Keywords: Aging, Coping and Emotion Regulation, Life span development, Meaning and Purpose, Resilience and Posttraumatic Growth