인간의 죽음태도(death attitude)는 개인에 따라 다르며, 시대와 사건에 따라 다른 의미가 부여되기도 한다. 그러나 우리사회에서는 대체로 죽음에 대해 거부하고 부정하려는 태도를 가지고 있으며 죽음을 준비한다는 의식 또한 낮은 수준이다. 인간이라면 누구나 죽음을 맞이하며 특히, 인간의 발달단계상 노년기를 보내는 노인들에게 죽음(death)은 생애의 마지막 중요한 과제임에도 죽음준비는 매우 낯선 행위로 여겨지고 있다. 지금까지 죽음과 관련한 선행연구에서는 죽음에 대한 불안, 공포를 중점적으로 현재 노인들의 죽음의 태도를 연구해 왔던 것이 대부분이었다. 그러나 본 연구에서는 죽음에 대한 태도를 정서적 불안, 인지적 수용, 행동적 반응의 세 요소로 구분하고 Corr(1995)가 제시한 정서적 차원, 인지적 차원, 행동적 차원의 지표에 따라 죽음의 태도에 미치는 효과를 살펴보고자 하였다. 따라서 시립노원노인종합복지관을 이용하시는 노인들 중 실험집단과 통제집단을 나누어 유사 실험 설계방법으로 연구를 진행하였다. 이에 따른 결과를 살펴보면, 죽음준비교육 프로그램 개입 이후 정서적 불안 정도는 감소하였고 인지적인 수용 정도는 증가하였으며 긍정적인 행동적 반응이 나타났다. 이처럼 노년기의 죽음에 대한 사고는 임박한 문제로 죽음의 문제에 있어 교육을 통해 적극적으로 인식하고 수용할 때 정서적인 불안이 감소하며 실질적인 행동적 준비가 가능한 것을 도출하여 낼 수 있다. 그러므로 노년기에 죽음준비 교육은 죽음의 태도에 다각적인 영향을 미치고 있기에 죽음준비가 보편화되어 적극적으로 죽음에 대한 준비를 할 수 있는 사회적 분위기가 조성되어야 할 것이다.

Earlier research related to death has mostly studied focused on the anxiety and fear of death among the elderly. This study, however, divided the attitudes toward death into three categories: emotional anxiety, cognitive acceptance, and behavioral reaction. This study is based on the index of emotional, cognitive, and behavioral levels of Corr(1995). The death education program introduced in this study is intended to observe the attitude of anxiety, acceptance and behavioral reaction to death through the introduction of the death education program. By choosing a Nonequivalent control group design of the type 1 of quasi-experimental design as the research method, subjects are divided into an experimental group and a control group. The research was conducted with 120 elderly people, aged 60 or older, in a senior welfare center. The data were analyzed with SPSS (version 12.0). Analyses of frequency, percentage, average, standard deviation, paired t-test, correlation analysis, and ANCOVA were made. The results of this study are as follows: First, the result of the paired t-test to test the effect of the introduction of the death education for the elderly was that emotional anxiety was decreased, cognitive acceptance was increased, and positive behavioral reaction was shown. Second, the result of the analyses observed that the correlations among emotional anxiety, cognitive acceptance and behavioral reaction was a negative correlation, that is, the more cognitive acceptance was increased, the more emotional anxiety toward death was decreased. The study showed that cognitive acceptance toward death occurs as a behavioral reaction. Based on this study, practical suggestions are as follows: First, death education should be prepared and conducted at multilateral levels that combine the emotional, cognitive, behavioral aspects of human beings and the value that Corr(1995) has suggested. Second, after sufficient verification of whether the instructors are qualified or not, death education should proceed focused on the feedback from the death education program, the instructor`s life, the lives of their clients and this feedback will guide instruction. Third, programs that reflect on current life situations while ruminating on the meaning of the past, even though death education is focused on the preparation for the death, should be included. Fourth, a following study on the change of the attitude toward death among the elderly will be needed to monitor the continuance of the effect of death education. Fifth, social workers need to accept the problems of life and death actively, and to have practical preparation for the development and practice of death education. Sixth, while combining multi-discipline studies with the experiences learned from the implementation of the education in practice and within the current education system, death education programs for each generation and family including couples or couple with children should be practiced systematically.