Everyday awareness of death:: A qualitative investigation

This article concerns two important topics. The first is the results of clinical qualitative research on death awareness experience in adults, and the second is research procedures of clinical qualitative investigations based on a hermeneutical approach. The theoretical assumptions of this study are based on humanistic-existential psychology and life-span developmental psychology. Descriptions of the death awareness experience from 12 physically healthy women were obtained and analyzed using a hermeneutical approach. Three components of the death awareness experience were obtained: context of death, psychological phenomenon related to death of the self and closely related persons, and the impact of an awareness of the death experience on one's life. Clinical applications of the research are discussed.