Death Anxiety, Reliability, Validity, and Factorial Structure of the Farsi Form of the Arabic Scale of Death Anxiety in Iranian Old-Aged Persons

The Relationship of Death Anxiety With Quality of Life and Social Support in Hemodialysis Patients

This study aimed to determine the relationship of death anxiety with quality of life and social support in hemodialysis patients. This cross-sectional research was conducted on 226 patients with chronic renal failure. The results indicated that the means and standard deviations of MSPSS, QoL, and death anxiety of patients were 57.4 ± 10.1, 28.8 ± 5.9, and 42.5 ± 4.1, respectively. A significant negative correlation was found between QoL scores and death anxiety in hemodialysis patients (p = 0.007, r = -0.179). However, there was no statistically significant relationship between MSPSS scores and patients' death anxiety. The total score of patients' death anxiety decreased with increasing the total QoL score (p < 0.001, b = -0.18). Different variables that can affect death anxiety and QoL should be identified in the patient examination process. Also, the health care system should consider necessary planning to increase the QoL and reduce death anxiety.

Examination of Pandemic Awareness, Death Anxiety, and Spiritual Well-Being in Elderly Individuals

This study aimed to examine the relationships between the variables of pandemic awareness, death anxiety, and spiritual well-being and reveal whether the participants' perceptions of pandemic awareness, death anxiety, and spiritual well-being differed according to various sociodemographic characteristics. The study population is comprised of individuals aged 65 years and over in Edirne, Turkey. The data obtained from 449 people in the study were analyzed using various statistical methods. According to the results of the regression analysis performed in the study, the increase in the participants' pandemic awareness was found to reduce their death anxiety and increase their spiritual well-being statistically. Moreover, the increase in the participants' death anxiety statistically reduced their spiritual well-being.

The effects of death anxiety on diet-fluid restriction non-adherence in hemodialysis patients

INTRODUCTION

The study was performed to examine the effects of death anxiety on diet-fluid restriction non-adherence in hemodialysis patients.

METHODS

This descriptive, cross-sectional, and correlational study was performed with 118 hemodialysis patients who received treatment in the dialysis unit of a university hospital and a state hospital in Elazığ, eastern Turkey. The study data were obtained with the "Descriptive Data Form", "Death Anxiety Scale", and "Dietary and Fluid Restriction Non-Adherence Scale".

FINDINGS

The average Death Anxiety Scale total score of the patients was 10.00 ± 4.75. The "Duration of non-adherence with diet" mean score was 1.66 ± 1.70, "Degree of non-adherence with diet" mean score was 1.24 ± 1.19, "Duration of non-adherence with fluid restriction" mean score was 1.61 ± 1.71, and "Degree of non-adherence with fluid restriction" mean score was 1.16 ± 1.13. The independent variable Death Anxiety Scale significantly and negatively affected the dependent variable "Duration of non-adherence with diet", "Degree of non-adherence with diet", "Duration of non-adherence with fluid restriction", and "Degree of non-adherence with fluid restriction".

DISCUSSION

Hemodialysis patients face serious death anxiety, their degree of non-adherence with diet-fluid restriction was low as death anxiety scores increased, and the degree of non-adherence with diet-fluid restriction decreased.

The Effectiveness of a Counselling Program in Reducing the Death Anxiety and Improving Self-Efficacy Among a Sample of Female Middle-Aged Teachers Recovered from COVID-19 Virus

This study explored the effectiveness of a counselling program in reducing the death anxiety and improving self-efficacy among a sample of female middle-aged teachers recovered from COVID-19 virus in Jordan. The latter program is based on cognitive behavioural therapy. The sample consists from 22 female middle-aged teachers recovered from COVID-19 virus. The ages of those children range between 35 and 50 years. The study was carried out during the year 2020-2021. The chosen teachers were divided into two groups randomly (i.e. control and experimental groups). The experimental group consists from 11 teachers who were enrolled in the proposed counselling program that is based on cognitive behavioural therapy. This program consists from 16 sessions. The control group consists from 11 teachers who were not enrolled in the proposed counselling program. The death anxiety and self-efficacy scales were used before and after implementing the program. They were used after 4 weeks since the date of finishing the implementation of the program. The researchers found that there are significant differences - at the significance level of (a ≤ 0.05) - between the control and experimental groups in terms of the death anxiety and self-efficacy levels for the favour of the experimental group. The researchers found that there is a need to use this program due to the impact of this program on the experimental group after 1 month since the date of finishing the implementation of the program.

A Death and Dying Class Benefits Life and Living: Evidence From a Nonrandomized Controlled Study

Humanistic theorists have long emphasized the importance and benefits of death awareness (Yalom, 1980) yet the literature on death education has focused on fear and anxiety. In the present study, 150 undergraduate students taking either a class on death and dying or a comparison class completed a pre and post-questionnaire on attitudes (negative and positive), values (intrinsic and extrinsic) and eudaimonic wellbeing (meaning in life and vitality). Results revealed that compared to their peers in another class, students studying death and dying significantly increased in death acceptance, intrinsic values, meaning in life, and vitality. Furthermore, increases in intrinsic values mediated the relationship between participation in death and dying education and meaning in life. Results are discussed in light of experiential learning, posttraumatic growth, and terror management.

Preference for initiation of end-of-life care discussion in Indonesia: a quantitative study

Background

Initiating discussion about death and dying is often considered a difficult topic for healthcare providers, thus there is a need for further research to understand this area, particularly in developing countries. The aim of this study was to describe preferences for the initiation of end-of-life care discussions in Indonesia, comparing the general population and health care professionals.

Methods

This cross-sectional, descriptive study analysed quantitative data from 368 respondents to an online questionnaire (255 general population (69%); 113 healthcare professionals (31%)) utilizing consecutive sampling and snowball sampling methods.

Results

Overall, most respondents (80%) stated that they would like to discuss end-of-life issues with a healthcare professional in the case of terminal illness. This was more marked amongst healthcare professionals compared with the general population (94% vs. 75%, respectively, p < 0,001). The preferred time for discussion was at first diagnosis (68% general population, 52% healthcare professionals, p = 0.017) and the preferred person to start the discussion was the doctor (59% general population, 71% healthcare professionals, p = 0.036). Fewer respondents wanted to know about prognosis compared to diagnosis (overall 76% v 93% respectively).

Conclusion

Doctors have vital role in end-of-life care discussion, and attempts should be made to encourage physicians to initiate these conversations and respond to patient’s requests when needed. These findings contribute to the existing body of knowledge in this area of practice, with focus on a developing country. The role of socio-cultural influences on these conversations warrants further research, in order to develop practical resources to support clinicians to appropriately conduct end-of-life care discussions with their patients and to provide data for policymakers to develop services.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12904-021-00894-0.

Prevalence and correlates of total sleep time among the older adults during COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh

Purpose

The present study was aimed to identify inappropriate sleep duration and its correlates among the Bangladeshi older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Material and methods

This cross-sectional study was carried out among 1030 older adults aged 60 years and above in Bangladesh. Information was collected through telephone interviews using a pretested semi-structures questionnaire installed in SurveyCTO mobile app. Sleep duration was defined as total sleep time (TST) in last 24 h including day and nighttime sleep. TST was further categorized into shorter (<7 h), recommended (7-8 h), and longer sleep (>8 h) according to 2015 National Sleep Foundation guideline. The multinomial logistic regression model identified the factors associated with sleep duration.

Results

Mean TST was 7.9 h (SD=1.62). Of the total participants, 28.2% had longer and 17.8% shorter sleep duration. In the regression model, participants' age of ≥80 years (OR: 3.36, 1.46-7.73), monthly family income of <5,000 Bangladeshi Taka (OR: 3.50, 1.79-6.82), difficulty in getting medicine during COVID-19 (OR: 1.72, 1.05-2.82), lack of communication during the pandemic (OR: 2.20, 1.43-3.40) and receiving COVID-19 related information from friends/family/neighbours (OR: 1.83, 1.11-3.01) were significantly associated with shorter TST. On the other hand, monthly family income of < 5,000 Bangladeshi Taka (OR: 2.00, 1.13-3.53), difficulty in getting medicine during COVID-19 pandemic (OR: 2.01, 1.33-3.03) and receiving COVID-19 related information from radio/TV (OR: 2.09, 1.22-3.59) were associated with longer TST.

Conclusions

The study findings suggest implementing sleep management program for older adults in Bangladesh, particularly during emergencies like COVID-19.

Association of Death Anxiety with Spiritual Well-Being and Religious Coping in Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This descriptive study aimed to examine the association of death anxiety with religious coping and spiritual well-being among 248 community-dwelling older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. The brief Arab religious coping scale, the Arabic version of the spiritual well-being Scale, and the Arabic Scale of death anxiety were used to measure religious coping, spiritual well-being, and death anxiety, respectively. The majority of the participating older adults were found to have low levels of religious coping and spiritual well-being and high levels of death anxiety. Further, in comparison to male older adults, female older adults were found to have higher levels of religious coping and lower levels of death anxiety. Moreover, in comparison to widowed older adults, married older adults were found to have higher levels of death anxiety. After controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, religious coping, and spiritual well-being were found to be significant predictors of death anxiety in older adults.

Death Anxiety, Religiosity and Culture: Implications for Therapeutic Process and Future Research

Death anxiety is a common phenomenon that humans experience. It is multidimensional. There has been an upsurged interest around the discussion on death anxiety across the globe, however, much of the literature focuses on the concept of death anxiety, religiosity, and its role in mental health conditions. Further, studies on death anxiety are scattered and at times disconnected. It is important to review existing literature to get an overview of the current direction in research and understand its relevance to facilitate therapeutic processes. In this scoping review, literature was searched in databases such as PubMed, Scopus, and PsychINFO using key words such as “death anxiety”, “fear of death”, religion”, “culture”, and “psychopathology” combined with Boolean operators to narrow down the search results. The initial search yielded 614 records, of which 546 records were removed based on title review (363), abstract review (94), and full-text review (89). Finally, 68 articles were appraised, narratively synthesized, and thematically presented. Major themes revealed in the literature were theoretical frameworks of death anxiety, religiosity, universality, psychological effects of death anxiety, psychopathology, and religious coping strategies. There is a need to assess client’s death anxiety and address them using religious rituals and coping mechanisms.

Death distress constructs: A preliminary empirical examination of the Farsi form in nurses: A brief note

Aim

Death distress can increase mental health problems. The aim of the present study was to develop a measure of death distress and evaluate the reliability of this Death Distress Scale-Farsi (DDS-F) among nurses. The hypotheses were that death distress has three components and that the DDS-F would have desirable psychometric properties.

Design

A descriptive cross-sectional study.

Methods

A convenience sample of 106 Iranian nurses from two hospitals at Tehran city, Iran was recruited. They completed the Death Anxiety Scale (DAS), the Death Depression Scale (DDS) and the Death Obsession Scale (DOS).

Results

Cronbach's α for the DDS-F was 0.71. As expected, the DDS-F had three independent components: death obsession, death depression and death anxiety. A principle component analysis with a varimax rotation of the DDS-F items identified three factors accounting for 66.13% of the variance. Factor 1 was labelled "Death Obsession" (31.3% of the variance), Factor 2 was labelled "Death Depression" (21.9% of the variance), and Factor 3 was labelled "Death Anxiety" (12.8% of the variance).

Discussion

Death distress has three components: death obsession, death depression and death anxiety. The DDS-F which measures these has good psychometric properties, and it can be used in hospital settings to assess death distress among Iranian nurses.

Construction and validation of the Lebanese fear of relationship commitment scale among a representative sample of the Lebanese population

PURPOSE

To describe the generation and validation of the Lebanese fear of relationship commitment scale (LFRC) and factors associated with FRC in a representative sample of the Lebanese population.

DESIGN AND METHODS

This cross-sectional study, conducted between January and May 2018, enrolled 568 single community dwelling participants.

RESULTS

The scale items converged over a solution of four factors, explaining 50.46% of the variance (Cronbach's α = 0.789). Higher social phobia (β = 0.073) and higher general trust score (β = 0.393) were associated with higher FRC, whereas higher self-esteem (β = -0.275) was associated with lower FRC.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

The LFRC-17 is a valid and reliable measure of fear of relationship commitment and a highly efficient tool both for research and clinical practice. It gathers social, physical, and psychological aspects related to gamophobia.

The effectiveness of 8A model death education on the reduction of death depression: A preliminary study

Aim

Death education using the 8A model can reduce death distress and promote mental health. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of the 8A model death education programme for reducing death depression among nurses. The hypothesis was that participating in the 8A model death education programme would reduce death depression.

Design

A pre-test-post-test intervention.

Methods

Ten nurses were selected randomly from the intensive care units and critical care units wards of the Khatom-Al-Anbia General Hospital in Tehran, Iran. They completed the Death Depression Scale before and after intervention. The 8A model was conducted in six workshops weekly, each of 6 hr, for a total of 36 hr.

Results

There was a significant difference between pre-test and post-test on the Death Depression Scale scores.

Discussion

The 8A model appears to be useful for the reduction of death depression and the promotion of mental health in the sample. However, the model should be tested on larger samples and with a control group before concluding that the model is effective in reducing death distress.

Relationship Between Religious Orientation and Death Anxiety in Elderly Individuals

This study aims to identify the relationship between religious orientation and death anxiety in elderly individuals aged 65 and over. This study is cross sectional in nature. It was conducted with the participation of 250 individuals aged 65 and over who were registered in Family Health Centers in the city center located in the eastern part of Turkey between February and June, 2018. The participants' Religious Orientation Scale mean score was found to be 53.03 ± 9.91, and Religious Orientation Scale mean score was found to be significantly higher in married people, in graduates of high school, in those who had social security, and in those who lived with their spouse (p < 0.01). Death Anxiety Scale mean score was found to be 7.73 ± 2.28, and Death Anxiety Scale mean score was significantly higher in those who lived with their children (p < 0.05). No statistically significant relationship was found between Death Anxiety and Religious Orientation. Elderly individuals were found to have high religious orientation and death anxiety. It is recommended that the factors that increase death anxiety should be identified, interventions should be provided to decrease these factors, and elderly people should be provided with social services for their religious needs.

Structure of Arabic Scale of Death Anxiety With Chinese College Students: A Bifactor Approach

The Arabic Scale of Death Anxiety (ASDA), as one of the most widely used measures of death anxiety (DA), has increasingly been applied in many studies. However, the structures derived from different studies are highly inconsistent. In this study, both traditional and novel (bifactor) modeling approaches were used, to investigate the most optimal structure of the ASDA in a sample of 984 Chinese college students. After a series of comparisons, the results showed that the bifactor model, with a dominant general DA factor and three distinct sub-dimensions, was the most optimal measurement structure, and measurement invariance of this bifactor model between sexes was also confirmed. Based on the implications of this bifactor model, the discussion was focused mainly on whether distinct dimensions should be interpreted or not. Some strengths and limitations of the study were also discussed at the end of the paper.

The Psychometric Parameters of the Farsi Form of the Arabic Scale of Death Anxiety

The aim of this study was to describe the psychometric properties of the Farsi Form of the Arabic Scale of Death Anxiety (ASDA). The original scale was first translated into Farsi by language experts using the back translation procedure and then administered to a total of 252 Iranian college students and 52 psychiatric outpatients from psychiatric and psychological clinics. The one-week test-retest reliability of the Farsi version in a sample of college students was 0.78, indicating good temporal stability and corroborating the trait-like nature of scores. Cronbach's α was 0.90 for the college students and 0.92 for the psychiatric outpatients, indicating high internal consistency. Scale scores correlated 0.46 with Death Obsession Scale scores, 0.56 with Death Depression Scale scores, 0.41 with Death Anxiety Scale scores, and 0.40 with Wish to be Dead Scale scores, indicating good construct and criterion-related validity. A principal component analysis with a Varimax rotation yielded four factors in the sample of Iranian college students, indicating a lack of homogeneity in the content of the scale. Male students obtained a significant higher mean score than did females. It was concluded that the Farsi ASDA had good internal consistency, temporal stability, criterion-related validity, and a factor structure reflecting important features of death anxiety. In general, the Farsi ASDA could be recommended for use in research on death anxiety among Iranian college students and psychiatric outpatients.

Reliability and Factorial Structure of the Farsi Version of the Arabic Scale of Death Anxiety in an Iranian Middle-Aged Sample

The present study aimed to explore the psychometric properties of the Arabic Scale of Death Anxiety (ASDA) in an Iranian middle-aged sample. A sample of 55 volunteer Iranian persons took part in the study. Cronbach's alpha of the ASDA was found to be high (0.91) and Spearman-Brown and Guttman Split-Half coefficients were 0.86. The factor analysis of the ASDA items yielded five factors accounting for 72.49% of the total variance and labeled (F1) fear of death and fear of dead people; (F2) fear of postmortem events and fear of tombs; (F3) fear of lethal disease; (F4) preoccupation with after death, and death fear in sleep; and (F5) fear of deprivation of own ones. The ASDA has a good validity and reliability, and it can be used in clinical, educational, and research settings.