The proportion of death anxiety and its related factors during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Iranian population

Mirhosseini, Seyedmohammad; Dadgari, Ali; Basirinezhad, Mohammad Hasan; Mohammadpourhodki, Reza; Ebrahimi, Hossein

doi:10.5114/fmpcr.2021.103154

Cited by 14 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…These two scales were previously reported to have an acceptable level of internal consistency. The findings of the current study confirm the results of similar studies related to the origin of these tools (16,33,34) showing that they have excellent performance in the target population of Iran.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-Item Scale and Templer’s Death Anxiety Scale in Iranian Inpatients with COVID-19: Evaluation of Psychometric Properties and Diagnostic Accuracy

Fattah

Ebadi

Borumand

et al. 2021

Middle East J Rehabil Health Stud

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Background: During the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, anxiety has always been with patients. Objectives: It is necessary to obtain a valid instrument for the evaluation and screening of patients with anxiety. The current study attempted to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity and provide the clinical cut-off scores for the Death Anxiety Scale (DAS) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-Item (GAD-7) Scale in hospitalized patients diagnosed with COVID-19 in Iran. Methods: This diagnostic accuracy study was carried out for 4 months on 150 hospitalized patients diagnosed with COVID-19 to evaluate generalized anxiety disorder and death anxiety. Cronbach’s alpha was used to evaluate reliability. For the determination of the presence of anxiety disorders, the Structured Clinical Interview with hospitalized subjects was conducted by a psychiatrist based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition diagnostic criteria. Results: The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the GAD-7 Scale and DAS questionnaires were observed to be 0.88 and 0.74, respectively, confirming their reliability. Based on cut-off scores with the best balance, the sensitivity and specificity of the GAD-7 Scale questionnaire were 61.9% and 86.9%, respectively. Moreover, the sensitivity and specificity values related to the DAS questionnaire were 47.8% and 73.8%, respectively. The values for the area under the curve were 0.75 and 0.63 for the GAD-7 Scale and DAS, respectively. With this scoring method, those who scored higher than 8 and 7 in the GAD-7 Scale and DAS questionnaires were considered patients, respectively. Moreover, in these two tests, higher levels of generalized anxiety and death anxiety were reported in female patients. Conclusions: The GAD-7 Scale and DAS both showed adequate psychometric properties and diagnostic accuracy; therefore, they are applicable for anxiety screening in patients with COVID-19. It will likely take a few years to bring the virus under control worldwide. Iran’s Ministry of Health should implement exact psychological interventions during hospitalization and after discharge to prevent the adverse mental health consequences of COVID-19.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-Item Scale and Templer’s Death Anxiety Scale in Iranian Inpatients with COVID-19: Evaluation of Psychometric Properties and Diagnostic Accuracy

Fattah

Ebadi

Borumand

et al. 2021

Middle East J Rehabil Health Stud

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“…Additionally, the findings on the risk level of location concerning attitudes towards social distancing point to the role of information in risk perception and behaviour change. This finding corroborates Akesson et al (2020), who found that beliefs about the infectiousness of COVID-19 reduced people's optimism, and Mirhosseini et al (2021), who found that the loss of a family member through COVID-19 increased death anxiety. The information overload in the early stages of the pandemic from government officials and the subsequent locking down of some regions may have been responsible for the reported increases in fatalism, death anxiety and fear of COVID-19 in areas labelled 'high risk'.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

“…The association between COVID-19 and death makes individuals' health seem uncontrollable and reduces motivation towards preventive behaviour. Such associations may be compounded by the death of a family member through COVID-19-related complications (Mirhosseini, Dadgari, Basirinezhad, Mohammadpourhodki, & Ebrahimi, 2021). However, there is a lack of unanimity on the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and responses to health measures.…”

Section: Conceptual Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Untitled

2022

GJPR

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, health authorities required adherence to the individual-and group-level protocols with varying levels of success. The study, therefore, sought to identify pathways through which death anxiety, fatalism and fear of COVID-19 predict attitudes towards social distancing. A sample of 160 university students completed an online survey on associations between fatalistic beliefs, selected emotions and attitudes towards social distancing in Kenya. The estimated structural equation model for death anxiety and fear of COVID-19 explained the total variance in attitudes towards social distancing. Fatalism did not moderate associations but insignificantly played a dual role in adherence. Both death anxiety and fear of COVID-19 directly predicted attitudes towards social distancing. Finally, living in a zone labelled as 'high risk' predicted higher intentions not to socialise during the pandemic. We recommend that behaviour change interventions incorporate a psychological understanding of risk perception instead of focusing purely on medical approaches.

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“…Their results indicated that taking antidepressants, praying, taking up hobbies, healthy and balanced diet, hygiene enhancement, and social distancing were some of the strategies used to cope with the psychological distress such as anxiety, life stress, panic attacks, fear, sleep disturbances, and depression. Mirhosseini et al ( 2021 ) examined the levels of general anxiety and death anxiety in Iranian population during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their results indicated that loss of a family member to COVID-19 and general anxiety level were significantly correlated with death anxiety.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%