OmegaPub Date : 2025-03-01Epub Date: 2022-08-27DOI: 10.1177/00302228221123153
Ilay Yesil
{"title":"Whose Choice? A Qualitative Inquiry into Professionals' Moral Positions on Euthanasia in Belgium.","authors":"Ilay Yesil","doi":"10.1177/00302228221123153","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00302228221123153","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Death, which was once accepted as an incalculable otherworld journey initiated by the cessation of biological functions, became an object of socio-political regulation in late modernity. Euthanasia, a form of managing death and dying, has grown in popularity with accompanying controversy. What remains under-explored, however, are conceptions of selfhood animating different framings in moral and ethical debates around euthanasia from professional perspectives. Drawing on 20 interviews with physicians and other key professionals in the euthanasia field in Belgium, this study finds that moral division among participants lies in different attributes of selfhood related to euthanasia, which emphasize autonomous, social, or embodied aspects. This paper demonstrates that the diminishing role of religion in appeasing existential anxiety about death, combined with an increasing emphasis on choice as the basis of selfhood, facilitates the contemporary desire to control one's own demise.</p>","PeriodicalId":74338,"journal":{"name":"Omega","volume":" ","pages":"1453-1472"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"33444879","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
OmegaPub Date : 2025-03-01Epub Date: 2022-09-24DOI: 10.1177/00302228221129948
Gülcan B Turan, Gül Dural
{"title":"Does Spiritual Well-Being Affect Death Anxiety and Psychological Resilience in Cancer Patients?","authors":"Gülcan B Turan, Gül Dural","doi":"10.1177/00302228221129948","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00302228221129948","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study was conducted to research the effects of spiritual well-being on death anxiety and psychological resilience in cancer patients. This cross-sectional, descriptive and correlational study was carried out with 260 cancer patients who were admitted to oncology and haematology outpatient clinic of a university hospital in east of Turkey between October 2021 and April 2022. The data were collected by using \"Personal Information Form\", \"Spiritual Well-being Scale (FACIT-sp), Death Anxiety Scale (DAS) and The Brief Resilience Scale (BRS). It was found that mean DAS total score of cancer patients was 12.51 ± 3.39, while their mean FACIT-sp total score was 26.10 ± 6.93 and their mean BRS total score was 16.1 ± 7.05. It was found that FACIT-sp total score affected DAS and BRS total score positively, while DAS total score affected BRS total score negatively (<i>p</i> < .001). It was found that cancer patients had moderate level of spiritual well-being and psychological resilience and high level of death anxiety. It was also found that death anxiety and psychological resilience of cancer patients increased as their spiritual well-being levels increased. Psychological resilience was found to decrease as death anxiety increased.</p>","PeriodicalId":74338,"journal":{"name":"Omega","volume":" ","pages":"1909-1924"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"33482136","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
OmegaPub Date : 2025-03-01Epub Date: 2022-09-22DOI: 10.1177/00302228221124520
Arlen G Gaines
{"title":"The Grief Experiences of Children with Developmental Disabilities: A Narrative Literature Review.","authors":"Arlen G Gaines","doi":"10.1177/00302228221124520","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00302228221124520","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Children with developmental disabilities have wide-ranging social, developmental, and communication challenges impacting their grieving process. This narrative review examined the literature relating to the grief experiences of children with developmental disabilities to identify implications for practice and areas for future research.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The literature review was conducted using five databases, and a hand search of dissertations with original research, due to the sparse body of published works.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Nine works were included in the review, which were thematically synthesized into three categories: (1) Understanding of death concepts, (2) Social-emotional responses to loss, and (3) Disenfranchised grief.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Children with developmental disabilities are affected by loss, even if their comprehension of death concepts is impacted by their level of disability. They may experience challenges due to changes in routines and concrete thinking, and are at risk of disenfranchised grief. Future research is needed to inform developmentally appropriate grief interventions.</p>","PeriodicalId":74338,"journal":{"name":"Omega","volume":" ","pages":"1562-1580"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"33470179","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
OmegaPub Date : 2025-03-01Epub Date: 2023-01-30DOI: 10.1177/00302228231154361
Serdar Ceylan, Merve Guner Oytun, Arzu Okyar Bas, Zeynep Kahyaoglu, Caglayan Merve Ayaz, Cafer Balci, Burcu Balam Dogu, Mustafa Cankurtaran, Meltem Gulhan Halil
{"title":"Changes in Place of Death of Older Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Retrospective Study from an Aging Country.","authors":"Serdar Ceylan, Merve Guner Oytun, Arzu Okyar Bas, Zeynep Kahyaoglu, Caglayan Merve Ayaz, Cafer Balci, Burcu Balam Dogu, Mustafa Cankurtaran, Meltem Gulhan Halil","doi":"10.1177/00302228231154361","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00302228231154361","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the difficulties in patients' applications to health centres, changes have occurred in the places of death of older adults. It is aimed to investigate the change in the places of death of older adults in Turkey, which is one of the countries most affected by the pandemic. Patients admitted to the geriatric outpatient clinic of a university hospital from 01.01.2013 to 29.02.2020 were included. Place and date of death were recorded as hospital or out-of-hospital death. According to results, while the median age of those who died during the pandemic was higher than before (<i>p</i> < 0.001) and during the pandemic, the hospital mortality ratio was higher than before. During the pandemic period, the hospital mortality ratio of older adults has increased in Turkey. This situation, which has occurred despite the increasing healthcare burden, can show the importance of the measures taken and robust health infrastructure.</p>","PeriodicalId":74338,"journal":{"name":"Omega","volume":" ","pages":"1963-1974"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9892879/pdf/10.1177_00302228231154361.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10643036","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
OmegaPub Date : 2025-03-01Epub Date: 2022-09-28DOI: 10.1177/00302228221130617
Zahra Asgari, Azam Naghavi, Mohammad Reza Abedi
{"title":"Death and Dying in a Digitalized World.","authors":"Zahra Asgari, Azam Naghavi, Mohammad Reza Abedi","doi":"10.1177/00302228221130617","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00302228221130617","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The impact of digitalization on the topic of death and dying seems to be accelerated in recent years. This study aimed to explore the online ways people used to overcome grief and used the COVID-19 restrictions as an example. Thirty-two bereaved participants were interviewed and the data were analyzed using the constructive grounded theory method. Three main themes were extracted from the data: 1) an online way to remember; 2) digitalization of social support, and 3) continuing the bonds. Findings highlighted the important and inevitable role of the digital world in the grief process when there is a restriction in holding usual ceremonies.</p>","PeriodicalId":74338,"journal":{"name":"Omega","volume":" ","pages":"1951-1962"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40379376","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
OmegaPub Date : 2025-03-01Epub Date: 2022-09-06DOI: 10.1177/00302228221124388
Carl I Moller, Paul B Badcock, Sarah E Hetrick, Simon Rice, Michael Berk, Olivia M Dean, Andrew M Chanen, Caroline Gao, Christopher G Davey, Sue M Cotton
{"title":"Assessing Suicidal Ideation in Young People With Depression: Factor Structure of the Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire.","authors":"Carl I Moller, Paul B Badcock, Sarah E Hetrick, Simon Rice, Michael Berk, Olivia M Dean, Andrew M Chanen, Caroline Gao, Christopher G Davey, Sue M Cotton","doi":"10.1177/00302228221124388","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00302228221124388","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Evaluating suicidal ideation in young people seeking mental health treatment is an important component of clinical assessment and treatment planning. To reduce the burden of youth suicide, we need to improve our understanding of suicidal ideation, its underlying constructs, and how ideation translates into suicidal behaviour. Using exploratory factor analysis, we investigated the dimensionality of the Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire (SIQ) among 273 participants aged 15-25 with Major Depressive Disorder. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) analysis was used to explore associations between latent factors and actual suicidal behaviour. Findings suggested that the SIQ assesses multiple factors underlying suicidal ideation. AUROC analyses demonstrated that latent factors relating to both active and passive suicidal ideation predicted past-month suicidal behaviour and suicide attempt. These findings contribute to an improved understanding of the complexities of suicidal ideation and relationships with suicidal behaviour in young people with depression.</p>","PeriodicalId":74338,"journal":{"name":"Omega","volume":" ","pages":"1502-1530"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40351000","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Relationship Between Frailty, Spiritual Orientation, and Death Anxiety in Older Adults With Chronic Illness.","authors":"Yasemin Sazak, Meltem Kalayci, Keriman Aytekin Kanadli, Nermin Olgun","doi":"10.1177/00302228251323139","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00302228251323139","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The purpose of the current work was to identify the levels of frailty, spiritual orientation, and death anxiety and the relationship between them in older adults with chronic illness. This descriptive, cross-sectional, and correlational study was conducted with 221 participants. Of the participants, 43.9% were frail. Considering the correlation between the scales, a positive moderate significant correlation was identified between the FRAIL Scale and the Death Anxiety Scale. In contrast, a negative moderate significant correlation was revealed between the Spiritual Orientation Scale, FRAIL Scale, and Death Anxiety Scale. When the mediator variable, death anxiety, was not included in the model, the total effect of spiritual orientation on death anxiety was significant. It was revealed that death anxiety mediated the relationship between spiritual orientation and frailty. Hence, it is recommended that spiritual care needs and death anxiety be evaluated in the assessment of patients' frailty levels and patient care.</p>","PeriodicalId":74338,"journal":{"name":"Omega","volume":" ","pages":"302228251323139"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143461041","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
OmegaPub Date : 2025-02-17DOI: 10.1177/00302228251321203
Manuela Bertão, Úrsula Dalcolmo, Francisca Rego
{"title":"Deathbed Phenomena, Other End-of-Life Experiences and Their Effects in Palliative Care Teams: A Systematic Review.","authors":"Manuela Bertão, Úrsula Dalcolmo, Francisca Rego","doi":"10.1177/00302228251321203","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00302228251321203","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The dying process includes many subjective experiences called end-of-life experiences. The author conducted a systematic review following PRISMA guidelines to characterize end-of-life experiences and their effects on patients, families, healthcare professionals, and volunteers in palliative care settings. The databases used were PubMed, PsycInfo, and Web of Science. Of 7095 articles found, 12 met the eligibility criteria. The prevalence of end-of-life experiences ranged from 28 to 87% and dreams and visions were the most reported. Eight common themes were found: end-of-life experiences are not uncommon (100%); end-of-life experiences can be comforting or not (83.3%); spiritual transformation of end-of-life experiences (58.3%); hallucinations and end-of-life experiences (50%); normalization of end-of-life experiences (50%); training of health professionals (41.6%); end-of-life experiences as prognostic indicators (33.3%); contribution of end-of-life experiences in grief (25%). These experiences, whether comforting or distressing, play a therapeutic role in facilitating a peaceful death and aiding the grieving process.</p>","PeriodicalId":74338,"journal":{"name":"Omega","volume":" ","pages":"302228251321203"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143442670","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
OmegaPub Date : 2025-02-17DOI: 10.1177/00302228251319834
Anqi Hu, Hong Jiang
{"title":"From Mourning to Healing: Continuing Bonds With Strangers in Chinese Social Media.","authors":"Anqi Hu, Hong Jiang","doi":"10.1177/00302228251319834","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00302228251319834","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The study examined the distinctive characteristics and underlying motivations of communication behaviours within the comment sections of Weibo posts belonging to deceased strangers. Taking the comment section of the last post of deceased user @Zoufan on Weibo, one of the most influential social media platforms in China, as a case study, the study adopted the humanities computing method to develop an artificial 'close reading' based on quantitative descriptions and topic clustering of the texts of more than 80,000 comments. Findings showed that in China, people engage in conversations with other mourners, the deceased, and themselves on the deceased's Weibo. Mourners built a social support network through emotional communication among mourners and constructed continuing bonds with the deceased through self-expression. The motivations of the mourning practices are self-help mental healing. The findings contribute to the scholarship on stranger mourning and the mediatization of mourning practices and dialogic healing in China.</p>","PeriodicalId":74338,"journal":{"name":"Omega","volume":" ","pages":"302228251319834"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143442791","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
OmegaPub Date : 2025-02-13DOI: 10.1177/00302228251318414
Katarina Bojkovic, Rithvic Jupudi, Michael Bojkovic, Robert Bossarte
{"title":"The Right to Life, and Death: A Health Equity Approach to Canada's Expansion of Medical Assistance in Dying for Individuals With Mental Disorder(s).","authors":"Katarina Bojkovic, Rithvic Jupudi, Michael Bojkovic, Robert Bossarte","doi":"10.1177/00302228251318414","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00302228251318414","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Canadian medical assistance in dying (MAID) is positioned to expand to allow voluntary euthanasia for individuals with mental disorders as their sole underlying condition(s) (MAID-MD-SUMC) by 2027. As governments consider this type of legislation, thoughtful critique of proposed eligibility criteria is imperative in order to consider potential consequences that may follow expansion of current policies guiding end-of-life care. As MAID-MD-SUMC enters another phase of revision, we propose two critical consideration: (1) the need to define a comprehensive, empirical basis for the \"irremediability\" of psychiatric disorders and (2) a more comprehensive consideration of the inextricable links between an individual's surrounding environment, socioeconomic factors, access to healthcare and outcomes resulting from treatment of mental health disorders.</p>","PeriodicalId":74338,"journal":{"name":"Omega","volume":" ","pages":"302228251318414"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143416507","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}