van Wijngaarden Els, Sanders José
Associate Professor in the Meanings of Ageing and Dying Radboud University Medical Center Nijmegen Geert Grooteplein Zuid, 10 6525, GA, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Professor Communication in Organisations: Narrative Communication, Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University, Erasmusplein 1, 6525 HT, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Soc Sci Med. 2022 Oct;311:115361. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115361. Epub 2022 Sep 8.
There is a paucity of empirical studies exploring how death and dying in old age are actually represented and debated within the Dutch society.
This study examines the discourse used in Dutch newspapers on the good death and dignified dying. It analyses how different types of social actions and positions are construed, thereby describing how death and dying in old age are portrayed in newspaper media.
173 newspaper articles between 2010 and 2020 were selected from five Dutch national newspapers. Data were thematically coded and scrutinised for discursive patterns in order to identify interpretative repertoires and their functions.
Four interpretative repertoires of good death and dying in old age were identified, all drawing on the assisted dying debate: Choice, Risk, Care, and Complexity. Each repertoire constructs a particular image of death and dying, varying from it being a personal choice; a last resort; a joint journey; to a contingent quest. The different repertoires imply distinct identities and actions. The Choice-repertoire construes older people as active subjects who autonomously determine their own death. The Risk- and Care-repertoires both construe older people primarily as passive and acted upon: either threatened by illness, decline and death; or protected and cared for by others and society. The Complexity-repertoire construes older people's situation as an object of reflection.
The strong prevalence of the Choice-repertoire in Dutch newspapers construes good death and dignified dying in old age in a salient way, unrepresentatively highlighting assisted dying as the preferred imagined practice. It is hypothesised that reimaging the Care- and Complexity-repertoires in such a way that they construe older persons in a more active subject role could help depolarise the debate on death and dying in old age.
关于老年死亡及临终问题在荷兰社会中实际是如何呈现和讨论的实证研究较为匮乏。
本研究考察荷兰报纸上关于善终和尊严死亡的话语。分析不同类型的社会行动和立场是如何被构建的，从而描述报纸媒体中对老年死亡及临终的描绘方式。
从五份荷兰全国性报纸中选取了2010年至2020年间的173篇报纸文章。对数据进行主题编码，并仔细审查话语模式，以识别解释性话语集及其功能。
确定了老年善终和临终的四种解释性话语集，均借鉴了安乐死辩论：选择、风险、关怀和复杂性。每个话语集都构建了一个特定的死亡及临终形象，从它是一种个人选择；到最后的手段；共同的旅程；再到偶然的探索。不同的话语集意味着不同的身份和行动。选择话语集将老年人视为自主决定自己死亡的积极主体。风险和关怀话语集都主要将老年人视为被动的承受者：要么受到疾病、衰退和死亡的威胁；要么由他人和社会保护与照料。复杂性话语集将老年人的情况视为反思的对象。
荷兰报纸中选择话语集的高度盛行以一种显著的方式构建了老年善终和尊严死亡，非代表性地突出了安乐死作为首选的想象实践。据推测，以一种能将老年人构建为更积极主体角色的方式重新塑造关怀和复杂性话语集，可能有助于使关于老年死亡及临终的辩论去极化。
