Death Obsession, Death Anxiety, and Depression as Predictors of Death Depression in Nurses

Abstract

Background: Death depression is one of the components of death-related distress, characterized by a form of sadness related to the individual’s death, other people’s death, and/or the concept of death in general. Objectives: The current research aimed to investigate death obsession, death anxiety, and depression as predictors of death depression among married nurses in Iran. Methods: The sample consisted of 146 married female nurses from different wards of governmental hospitals, as well as Mehr and Arya private hospitals, affiliated to Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences. The participants responded to the death depression scale-revised (DDS-R), death anxiety scale, death obsession scale, as well as the short-form of Beck depression inventory (BDI-13). Results: The findings indicated that death obsession, depression, and particularly death anxiety (β, 0.47), were predictors of death depression. The three predictive variables could explain 0.62 of variance in death depression. Conclusions: Different factors can affect death depression, including obsessions and anxieties related to death. Therefore, these concerns should be reduced dramatically in hospital settings, as stressful environments.