Death Anxiety Resilience; a Mixed Methods Investigation

Abstract

Objectives:Research was conducted examining how death anxiety influenced PTSD and mental health among people who have experienced a lifethreatening event.Design & Methods:This study was conducted using undergraduate university students in Lithuania. The study used a mixed-method design and in phase 1, participants (N=97) completed self-report questionnaires that gathered information on demographics, death anxiety, trauma and well-being. Results:Data indicated a significant correlation between death anxiety and PTSD, but not psychiatric co-morbidity. Phase 2 attempted to further explore the phenomenological experience of participants with full PTSD, and 6 semi-structured interviews were conducted. IPA analysis found three major themes in response to the life-threatening event;self-efficacy, religious coping and existential attitude. Conclusion:Overall these coping mechanisms allowed participants to develop resilience against the effects of death anxiety and minimize its negative impact on mental health. Death Anxiety Resilience 2

Death anxiety among advanced cancer patients: a cross-sectional survey

“…Resilience is important for self-protection. Hoelterhoff and Chung found that coping mechanisms allowed participants to develop resilience against the effects of death anxiety and minimize its negative impact on mental health [ 47 ]. Interventions to promote resilience should be available for cancer patients [ 24 ] to help them deal with their impending death.…”

Let’s Start With the End: Bibliodrama in an Italian Death Education Course on Managing Fear of Death, Fantasy-Proneness, and Alexithymia With a Mixed-Method Analysis

“…Wong, 2009). Furthermore, as both fear of death and alexithymia are negatively related to psychological health and are related positively with depression (i.e., Burke, McArthur, Daryanani, Abramson, & Alloy, 2018;Hoelterhoff & Chung, 2017;Lumley & Jasinski, 2014;Ziadni, Jasinski, Labouvie-Vief, & Lumley, 2017), their decrease can be considered to be an intensification of psychological well-being (P. T. P. Wong et al, 1994). In addition, knowing how to recognize and better understand emotions and consequently communicating them, even if they are negative, improves psychological well-being (Cacciatore, Thieleman, Killian, & Tavasolli, 2014).…”

“…This result confirms that DE, when managed in an appropriate manner, can help adolescents to reflect on mortality and transcendence, reducing anxiety and improving the ability to deal with the topic, which is already emphasized in the literature (Doka, 2015; Knight & Elfenbein, 1993; McClatchey & King, 2015; Testoni, Ronconi, et al., 2018; W. Wong, 2009). Furthermore, as both fear of death and alexithymia are negatively related to psychological health and are related positively with depression (i.e., Burke, McArthur, Daryanani, Abramson, & Alloy, 2018; Hoelterhoff & Chung, 2017; Lumley & Jasinski, 2014; Ziadni, Jasinski, Labouvie-Vief, & Lumley, 2017), their decrease can be considered to be an intensification of psychological well-being (P. T. P. Wong et al., 1994). In addition, knowing how to recognize and better understand emotions and consequently communicating them, even if they are negative, improves psychological well-being (Cacciatore, Thieleman, Killian, & Tavasolli, 2014).…”

Toward an Integrative Theory of Self-Identity and Identity Stressors and Traumas and Their Mental Health Dynamics

“…Self-efficacy can be a functionally more powerful buffer (e.g., Bandura, 1982;Bandura, 1988). The concept of anxiety buffer is more complex and may include several components that empirically prove to contribute to the alleviation, blocking or buffering such existential anxieties (e.g., Hoelterhoff & Chung, 2017). Self-esteem alone is one component of a cluster of anxiety buffer.…”