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Author(s): Shifa' Ayed Alrafati [sup.1] , Ruqayya Zeilani [sup.2] , Elham H. Othman [sup.3] Author Affiliations: (1) https://ror.org/0564xsr50, grid.419782.1, 0000 0001 1847 1773, King Hussein Cancer Canter, , Amman, Jordan [...], Death is the most traumatic life experience among humans. Nurses' caring for dying patients increases their death anxiety, especially during pandemics. This study examined factors associated with nurses' death anxiety and preparedness to care for dying patients diagnosed with COVID-19 in Jordan. A cross-sectional correlation study recruited 400 nurses from six hospitals with specialized COVID-19 units in Jordan. Nurses have moderate levels of death anxiety and preparedness to care for the dying. Furthermore, the result revealed statistically significant differences in death anxiety levels and nurses' readiness to care for dying patients according to their demographic and professional characteristics. As nurses' death anxiety is negatively associated with their preparedness to care for dying patients, implementing adequate assessment of nurses' death anxiety to encourage early intervention through counseling and organizing training programs to improve their preparedness to care for the dying is highly recommended.

Author(s): Gabriela Gonçalves [sup.1] [sup.2] , Saeed A. AL-Dossary [sup.3] , Cátia Sousa [sup.1] [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) https://ror.org/014g34x36, grid.7157.4, 0000 0000 9693 350X, University of Algarve, , Campus da [...], Death is something inevitable and common to all human beings. However, cultures vary in how they define and manage living with the inevitability of death and what happens when a person dies. Among the possible responses to this inescapable reality, there is death anxiety. Several instruments have proliferated in the literature to assess death anxiety. Among them, stands out the Scale of Death Anxiety (SDA) which contemplates somatic, cognitive, emotional and behavioural reactions from a symptomatic perspective. Thus, the objective of this study is the validation and measurement invariance of the SDA in Portuguese and Arab samples (N = 216 and N = 377, respectively). Confirmatory factor analyses, multi-group confirmatory factor analyses measurement invariance and latent mean differences were performed across cultures and gender groups. Our results provided important preliminary evidence for the validity of the scale in both samples. The structure of the SDA remained unchanged in both cultures and genders. The SDA showed partial scalar invariance across cultural groups, and full scalar invariance across gender groups. As expected, the Arab participants showed higher levels of anxiety than the Portuguese sample. The analyses also showed that females in both cultural groups obtained higher scores than males on dysphoria and fear of death. However, the two genders did not differ significantly on avoidance of death. The results show that the SDA is a reliable and valid measure for the study of death anxiety, showing to be invariant between cultures and between genders.

Author(s): Süleyman Kahraman [sup.1] , Damla Erkent [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.449464.f, 0000 0000 9013 6155, Beykent University, , Istanbul, Turkey (2) Independent Psychologist, , Istanbul, Turkey Introduction Death has [...], Older adults can frequently serve as a reminder of death to younger adults. People can develop a negative attitude towards aging and elderliness because they see old age as an obstacle in reaching their goals and what they want to do, which they see as the purpose of their lives. This research was conducted to answer to the question of whether attitudes towards aging and elderliness have a mediating role in the relationship between meaning and purpose of life and death anxiety. Relational screening model was used in the research. The research was conducted with 422 participants between the ages of 18-59. In the analysis of the data, Pearson Correlation Analysis and Regression analysis were performed. In addition, Hayes Macro was used in SPSS program to analyze the mediator variable effect. As a result, it was determined that the attitude towards aging had a significant mediator role in the effect of the meaning and purpose of life on death anxiety. It was found that there was a moderate positive correlation between the attitude towards aging and elderliness and death anxiety, a moderate negative correlation between the attitude towards aging and elderliness and the meaning and purpose of life, and a weak negative correlation between death anxiety and the meaning and purpose of life.

Author(s): Petru Lucian Curòeu [sup.1] [sup.2] , Andra Diana Coman [sup.1] , Anton Panchenko [sup.1] , Oana Catalina Fodor [sup.1] , Lucia RaÈiu [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.7399.4, 0000 0004 [...], Our study investigates several antecedents and consequences of negative emotional reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic in a cross-national sample of 737 participants. Our results show that COVID-19 anxiety and negative mood are positively predicted by death anxiety and the use in communication of general COVID-19 information. Death reflection reduces negative mood in relation to COVID-19 and attenuates the positive association between death anxiety on the one hand and the negative mood and anxiety in relation to COVID-19 on the other hand. The use of humoristic information about COVID-19 reduces anxiety and social distance towards people infected with COVID-19 and also attenuates the positive association between the use in communication of general COVID-19 information and negative mood in relation to COVID-19. Our results also show that the association between death anxiety and social distance towards those infected with COVID-19 is mediated by anxiety and negative mood in relation to COVID-19. Finally, the association between the use of COVID-19 information in interpersonal communication and social distance is mediated by anxiety and negative mood in relation to COVID-19. The study thus reveals specific insights for tailored interventions to reduce negativity towards people infected with COVID-19.

Author(s): Chih-Long Yen [sup.1] , Chung-Ping Cheng [sup.2] , Chin-Lan Huang [sup.3] , Yi-Cheng Lin [sup.4] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.411804.8, 0000 0004 0532 2834, Department of Counseling and I/O Psychology, [...], Drawing on Kelly's ( 1955 (See CR17)) personal construct theory, which suggests that human constructs typically contain their opposites. This study proposed that people facing death threat might be prompted to concern their existence, therefore pay more attentions on themselves. Two studies were conducted to explore the effects of death threat on self-focus. Study one analyzed data of six mortality salience experiments by using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) text analysis program. Study two was a case study analyzing a cancer patient's writings. Both studies found that people use more first-person singular pronouns when reminded of their mortality. The results indicated that death threat increases self-focus.

JOAN STAMBAUGH PROGRAMMATICALLY OPENED her influential text, The Finitude of Being, by insisting that '[t]hroughout a lifetime of writings, despite some fairly radical changes of perspective, Heidegger always consistently maintained [...]

Marketing communications can activate a consumer's thought about his own death, or the death of his loved one. Although past research has largely focused on thoughts about one's own death, which has been termed mortality salience (Greenberg, Solomon, and Pyszczynski 1997), recent studies have shown that there are two types of mortality salience, namely mortality salience of self (MSS) and mortality salience of a loved one (MSLO)which may have different impact on certain consumer behaviors (Wang 2015). In this research, we specifically examine the effects of MSS and MSLO on two types of product choices, namely social status choice and social experience choice. Based on a need salience mechanism, we discover in four studies that MSS individuals prefer social status choice options over social experience choice options; whereas MSLO individuals prefer social experience choice options over social status choice options. Moreover, these effects are more pronounced among MSS individuals high in independent self-construal, and MSLO individuals high in interdependent self-construal. This research contributes to the mortality salience literature by proposing a new mediating mechanism based on need salience which predicts the divergent effects of MSS and MSLO on type of choice, and identifying two new moderating variables, namely independent self-construal and interdependent self-construal which can modify the effect of MSS versus MSLO on type of choice., INTRODUCTION Marketing communications can activate a consumer's thought about his own death, or the death of his loved one. For example, while watching a television ad for the Heart & [...]

Every day someone is faced with the news that they are dying or that they have a loved one who is dying. Often times this is very unsettling and fear creeps into their hearts for one reason or another. This paper is an attempt to identify the most common reasons for that fear, and offer suggestions for handling that fear in a Christian manner., Background On the day we are born, we begin the process of dying. As I have heard since the time I was a child, 'life is terminal.' Interestingly enough, although [...]

PD149163, a putative atypical antipsychotic drug. Bree-Ona Ebrecht, Elizabeth Holly, Amber LaCrosse, and Adam J. Prus, Northern Michigan University, Department of Psychology Atypical antipsychotic drugs are regarded as superior to [...]

The present study investigated whether several evaluative indicators of subjective well-being (SWB) and subjective health decline as death approaches and which of them shows a stronger decline. Using three-wave longitudinal data from deceased participants of the Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Aging Study (N = 1,360; age range 75-94 at TI= Time 1), we found a stronger decline in most evaluative indicators when plotted by distance-to-death relative to distance from birth. After controlling for background characteristics and physical and cognitive functioning, death-related decline was still found for SWB but not for subjective health. Implications are discussed regarding the well-being paradox and the yet unclear mechanisms that link evaluative indicators to the dying process. Key Words: CALAS--Self-rated health--Subjective well-being Terminal change. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbp095

'I hope I die before I get old', sang Roger Daltrey back in 1965. He was talking about his generation, of course, for whom this was a more realistic hope [...]

There have been few reports on the effect of suicide death on family members' attitudes toward suicide. In order to estimate the extent to which suicide death affects attitudes toward suicide among family members of suicides, data of 264 informants from a case-control psychological autopsy study were analyzed. The results showed that there were no significant differences in attitudes toward suicide, measured by the General Social Survey's (GSS) four questions, between informants of suicides and informants of living controls, between family members of suicides and family members of living controls, or between family members of suicides and non-family members of suicides. Our findings did not support the hypothesis that suicide death affects the attitudes toward suicide in suicides' family members. However, some factors were found to be related to the pro-suicide attitudes measured by the four questions included in the GSS. doi: 10.2190/OM.60.4.d

Purpose: This study explored the role control plays in the dying process of terminally ill elders by investigating the aspects of the dying process over which they seek to exercise control, the strategies they use, and whether they desire to exercise more control. Design and Methods: In-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted with 84 terminally ill elders receiving hospice care. Directed and conventional content analysis methods were used to identify main themes and patterns. Results: The results revealed that all 84 elders were using at least 1 primary control strategy in their dying process, 83 of whom did so in combination with another primary or compensatory secondary control strategy. Decision making, independence, mental attitude, instrumental activities of daily living, activities of daily living, and relationships were aspects of the dying process over which the respondents sought to exercise control. Over half of the respondents wanted more control; however, they felt their illness prevented it. Implications: The findings highlight the importance of terminally ill elders' having opportunities to exercise control in their dying process. Practitioners need to ensure that these opportunities exist and to be aware that elders are adaptive and use multiple strategies in exercising control. Key Words: Primary control, Secondary control, End-of-life care, Qualitative research methods, Quality of life doi: 10.1093/geront/gnp060

A theoretical model is presented to examine death anxiety and death reflection in the workplace. Findings present how the terror management and generativity theories, or socially worthwhile work, increase the prosocial and self-protective motivations of employees. Details on the impact of aging and mortality cues are also discussed.

With tougher sentencing laws, an increasing number of individuals are finding themselves spending their final years of life in prison. Drawing on a sample of 327 women over the age of 50 incarcerated in five Southern states, the present study investigates the relationship between numerous health variables and the Templer Death Anxiety Scale (TDAS). Qualitatively, the article also provides personal accounts from inmates that serve to reinforce death fears when engaging the prison health care system. Participants reported a mean of 6.40 on the TDAS indicating a substantial degree of death anxiety when compared to community samples. Both mental and physical health measures were important indicators of death anxiety. Qualitative information discovered that respondents' concerns about dying in prison were often influenced by the perceived lack of adequate health care and the indifference of prison staff and other instances of penal harm. doi: 10.2190/OM.60.1.c

Three studies were conducted examining the relationship between thoughts of defecation and thoughts of death. In Study 1 and Study 3 it was found that making thoughts of feces salient reduced the accessibility of death thoughts. In Study 2 it was found that making thoughts of death salient decreased the accessibility of feces thoughts. It is proposed that this tendency for keeping thoughts of death and feces separate is part of a broader inclination for keeping the sacred from the profane.

This article introduces the primary beliefs about ancestor worship, Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism and traditional Chinese medicine that have influenced Chinese people for thousands of years, particularly in relation to death and dying. These cultures and traditions remain important for Chinese people wherever they live. Over a long period, Chinese people have integrated these philosophies and religions to form the basis of their culture and traditions. Although they agree that death is a natural part of the life span, a unique belief about death and dying has emerged among the Chinese from this integration. From this, the people find a significant definition of death and dying.

Although it is widely assumed that religiosity plays an important role in individuals' attitudes about death, research to date has failed to reveal consistent associations between religiosity and death attitudes. Drawing from D. M. Wulff's (1991) multidimensional model of religiosity, the authors examined associations between religious attitudes as measured by the Post-Critical Belief Scale and death attitudes as assessed by the Death Attitude Profile--Revised. In total, 471 Dutch-speaking Belgian adults completed both questionnaires. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to asses the unique contribution of the religious attitudes in the prediction of the death attitudes. First, results show that religious people are more likely to endorse an approach acceptance attitude toward death, indicating that religiosity as such is related to belief in an afterlife. Second, people holding a literal attitude toward religion report more death anxiety, indicating that the processing of religious contents is related to defensiveness toward death. Finally, the specific combination of the two dimensions seems important in the prediction of a neutral acceptance attitude. The relevance of our findings for future research on religiosity and death attitudes is discussed.