The aim of this study sets out to better understand nephrology nurses’ lived experiences of dying and deaths of patients with ESKD following withdrawal of dialysis. A qualitative research design using an interpretative phenomenological approach was used to explore the experiences of a purposive heterogeneous sample of eight nephrology nurses who were working in private dialysis units. Information was gathered by phenomenological conversations and feed-back sessions. Colaizzi’s phenomenological method was employed to formulate four main themes: 1. Emotional trauma 2. Detachment 3. Loss of altruistic values in nursing 4. being-with-death For the participants in this study, emotional trauma was the most significant. The participants experienced a sense of powerlessness which caused emotions of hopelessness and anger and subsequently a sense of premature mourning and detachment. This state of hopelessness proved to be an obstacle in patient care, resulting in the altruistic values of nursing to be no longer applied. The participants’ ontological confrontation of being-with-death was evident, as they came to terms with the reality of their own death. Recommendations are offered to address the educational aspects of death and dying for nephrology nurses. This study endorses the need for further research into patients with ESKD ‘end-of-life’ which can influence how healthcare professionals should treat these patients during this phase.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Death anxiety is a concept that has received little empirical attention in the organizational psychology literature. Research has found that trait death anxiety is associated with burnout, and lower work engagement in jobs with high mortality cues. However, most people do not work in jobs where they are constantly reminded of death. The present study sought to examine the effects of trait death anxiety on employees working in low-mortality cue jobs. Using terror management theory as a foundation, I predicted that those higher in trait death anxiety would be more involved in their jobs, resulting in higher levels of organizational citizenship behavior and lower turnover intentions. In addition, I hypothesized that the relationship between trait death anxiety and job involvement will be moderated by need for achievement. This model was tested using a two time-point study, utilizing participants from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Results revealed a positive relationship between death anxiety and job involvement, and a negative relationship between death anxiety and turnover intentions mediated by job involvement. However, no significant relationships were found in regards to organizational citizenship behavior or need for achievement. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

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The present study seeks to determine the relationship between Terror Management Theory (TMT) and various measures of existential anxiety, future consciousness, and future-oriented thinking. By using TMT as a theoretical construct, a scale was devised to measure participants’ protective behaviors relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. Three other scales were utilized, including Lalot’s Future Consciousness Scale (FCS), Strathman’s Consideration of Future Consequences Scale (CFCS), and Weems’ Existential Anxiety Questionnaire (EAQ). The scales were combined into one composite survey along with demographic questions. 315 participants were then administered the collection of scales via an only survey platform. Results indicated strong significant correlations between the scale developed and the three other scales utilized. Multiple linear regression analyses revealed the three scales utilized were strong predictor variables of proximal and distal protective behaviors as predicted by TMT. The possibilities for future research include expansion of the knowledge regarding protective behaviors during widespread health issues, and how to design programs to maximize protective behaviors to minimize health risks.

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no / Laura Middleton-Green, lecturer and researcher in palliative and end of life care, writes about how attitudes to death influence care of the dying.

This study concentrates on psychology of death and psychology of meaning of life. The primary goal is to survey personal conceptions of death as a state. Theoretical part of this study presents psychological view on topics of death and human percieving of awareness of their own mortality, outlines intercultural view on common motives across eschatologies and their relation to various psychological and philosophical approaches on death, and summarizes certain aspects of ontogenesis of death conceptions. One chapter focuses on dimensions of psychological construct of meaning in life. Other chapter resumes previous psychological research on areas of psychology of death and psychology of meaningfulness of life. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used to explore our topic. To get descriptions of personal conceptions of death as state in population of young adults, qualitative methodes were used. Scales were administered to access levels of death anxiety and meaning in life, strenghts of belief in an afterlife, and to monitor emotions regarding own images of death as state. Relationship between death anxiety and emotions regarding own images of death as state was proven significant based on research realized on population of 51 young adults. Collected quantitative data did not serve as a...

Virtually every mental health problem carries stigma, but suicide appears to run so counter to our accumulative, achievement-oriented society, that it poses even greater threat of stigma. While suicide is inherently troubling in that it opposes the fundamental human instinct for self-preservation, the tendency to stigmatize and reject individuals affected by suicide appears to be counterproductive and excessive. Hence, the purpose of this three-manuscript dissertation is to gain a more nuanced understanding of suicide attitudes from an exploratory and terror management theory perspective. More specifically, this dissertation attempts to answer three general questions: (1) how do suicide attitudes differ from other stigmatized deaths – namely, unintentional opioid overdose, (2) does death anxiety and baseline self-esteem impact attitudes toward suicide, and (3) can the effects of death anxiety on suicide attitudes be reversed by temporarily boosting self-esteem? To address the first question, Study 1 compares suicide attitudes to attitudes toward opioid overdose death – another type of stigmatized death that has emerged as a major public health issue in the U.S. in recent years. Study 2 addresses the second question by examining the effect of mortality salience on attitudes toward suicide and by investigating whether participants’ baseline self-esteem will moderate this effect, in keeping with the theory’s claim that self-esteem buffers against death anxiety. Building on the theoretical assumptions of the second study, Study 3 tests whether the effects of death anxiety on suicide attitudes can be reversed by temporarily bolstering the participant’s self-esteem using experimental manipulation. In other words, can cultural worldview validation and self-esteem enhancement inhibit the awareness of personal death and promote prosocial attitudes and behavior? All three proposed studies used quantitative research strategies to examine the research questions detailed above. Study 1 used a traditional questionnaire method to explore and compare attitudes toward suicide and drug overdose death; whereas Study 2 and 3 employed an experimental design to test the MS hypothesis on suicide attitudes. Participants were recruited online using an inexpensive crowdsourcing service called Amazon MTurk. Findings from these studies could have important implications for how we understand the psychological underpinnings of suicide stigma and contribute to the growing body of evidence of the role of existential mortality concerns in hostile attitudes and discriminatory behavior. Not only are we confronted with death reminders in our everyday lives, the topic of suicide is inherently a reminder of death – making the problem of death anxiety even more relevant and unavoidable. These findings could expand our understanding of how cultural worldview and self-esteem are relevant to mitigating death anxiety, and the relationship between death anxiety and suicide.

Thesis ( M.A. (Research psychology)) --University of Limpopo, 2012 / This study sought to investigate the relationship of death anxiety to age, gender and religiosity among Africans in a rural South African context. Two hundred participants completed a questionnaire based on demographic variables, death anxiety scales, and a measure of religiosity Results revealed that intrinsic religious motivation was inversely related to all types of death anxiety measured. Furthermore, age was correlated with death anxiety, such that the experience of death anxiety tended to decrease among older subjects. However, there were no gender effects on the experience of death anxiety.

This paper reviews literature on the topic of death anxiety and therapy. The author conducted a study examining potential clients' perceptions of two different therapeutic approaches for working with terminally ill clients with death anxiety. A review of literature relevant to this topic indicates that death anxiety is correlated with many psychological problems; however, there are no clinical studies focused primarily on the treatment of death anxiety among clients with a terminal illness. In this study, potential clients were randomly assigned to watched either a short video of a cognitive behavioral therapy session or a short video of an acceptance and commitment therapy session focused on treating a terminal ill person's death anxiety. After watching the video, potential clients rated the session impact of the therapy approach using the Session Evaluation Questionnaire. In addition, participant's views of seeking psychotherapy were assessed with the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychology Help measure. No differences in ratings of session impact were found between participants who viewed the cognitive behavioral therapy session and the acceptance and commitment therapy session. However, participants' attitudes toward seeking therapy were positively associated with their views of the therapist and session depth. Consistent with past literature, women reported more death anxiety than men. In regards to potential clients' views of session impact variables, their view of postsession positivity was positively related to their view of session smoothness. Additionally, a positive correlation was found between potential clients' views of the therapist and session depth. Implications and conclusions are discussed.