The association between death anxiety with spiritual experiences and life satisfaction in elderly people

Abstract

IntroductionDeath anxiety is a concept with greater importance among the elderly as they approach inevitability of death. Identifying the correlates of death anxiety among old people is important in order to reduce the burden of this problem. Therefore, the present study was performed with the aim to examine the association between spiritual experiences and life satisfaction with death anxiety in this stage of life.MethodThis cross-sectional study with descriptive-analytical design included 190 elderly people visiting the health and medical centers of Neyshabur city, Iran, during fall and winter, 2016. Participants were asked to complete three questionnaires including a 16-item spiritual experiences scale, life satisfaction index proposed by Wood and Shifor with 13 items, and a 27-item death anxiety scale developed by Aminpour. Analytical statistics (Spearman’s correlation coefficient, Pearson’s correlation coefficient) were conducted using SPSS software version 22.ResultsFifty-eight percent of participants were in younger elderly age group with mean age of 68.18±7.13 years and the number of men and women was the same (95). A significant positive association between spiritual experiences and life satisfaction (r=0.2, p<0.05), a significant negative association between spiritual experiences and death anxiety (r=−0.184, p< 0.05) and a significant negative relationship between life satisfaction and death anxiety (r=−0.2, p<0.05) was found.ConclusionBased on results, it seems that reducing stressors in this stage of life including reduction of death anxiety, is possible through use of spiritual experiences and increasing life satisfaction.

Older people’s early experience of household isolation and social distancing during COVID‐19

“…Low levels of death anxiety in the current study may also be due to participants’ high levels of social support and perceived life satisfaction. Social support during the current pandemic had increased for most participants, and social support is associated with lower levels of death anxiety, increased self‐esteem and the provision of a sense of security, meaning and structure (Chopik, 2017; Taghiabadi, Kavosi, Mirhafez, Keshrari, & Mehrabi, 2017).…”

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

“…In fact, religious faith, spiritual belief, and life satisfaction decrease death anxiety and act as a preventive factor against feelings of existential despair (Lewis 2014;Mohammadzadeh and Najafi 2020). A number of studies indicate the role of spiritual experiences and life satisfaction as a coping mechanism (Moore 2013;Saini et al 2016;Taghiabadi et al 2017). Furthermore, social detachment was demonstrated as an important religious coping practice for managing death anxiety (Maheshwari and Mukherjee 2019).…”

Psychological Adaptation to Serious Illness: A Qualitative Study of Culturally Diverse Patients With Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease

“…In a cross-sectional analysis of 190 patients with advanced malignancy, spiritual well-being was associated with decreased death anxiety, and in a sample of community-dwelling older adults receiving hospice care, spirituality, as opposed to adhering to a specific religious faith, was linked to decreased anxiety at the end of life. 40 The hope, comfort, courage, and life meaning that participants derived from spiritual coping in our study deserve close attention. According to terror management theory, death anxiety occurs when an individual becomes strongly aware of his or her own mortality.…”