Death Anxiety Among Peer Caregivers of Older Persons in Two US Prisons

Background: Death anxiety is marked by worrisome thoughts and feelings surrounding death. It can influence health care workers’ performance and increase workforce attrition, yet no study has examined death anxiety among persons who provide peer care in the correctional system. Methods: Two small samples of peer caregivers working in two US prisons were surveyed (N = 27). Using the 15-item Death Anxiety Scale, we first described death anxiety using descriptive statistics. We examined gender disparities using an independent sample t-test and explored the associations between death anxiety, caregiver burden, and depression using Kendalls’ Tau-b. Results: Average death anxiety for the sample was 6.30 (SD = 2.88) and while women reported greater death anxiety than men, (M = 6.82, SD = 2.77; M = 5.40, SD = 2.99, respectively), the difference was not significant (t(25) = 1.25, p = 0.111). Although death anxiety did not relate to care burden or depression, a significant relationship was found between care burden and depression for peer caregivers in this sample. Conclusions: This is the first study to examine death anxiety among correctional system peer caregivers. Further research with larger samples, and across multiple jurisdictions and facility types is required as is investigation of the influence of death anxiety on care outcomes.