The Effect of a Death Anxiety Therapeutic Package Based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Death Avoidance, Mental Health and Quality of Life of Cancer Patients

Abstract

Objectives The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a death anxiety therapeutic package designed based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on death avoidance, mental health, and quality of life of cancer patients. Methods This parallel-experimental study was conducted on 28 cancer patients (19 females and 9 males aged 26-71 years) referred to Seyedoshohada Hospital in Isfahan, Iran. They were randomly assigned into two groups of intervention (n=14) and control (n=14). The death anxiety package was designed in the University of Nevada and Lawshe's method was used for examining its content validity ratio. The intervention group received therapy at seven sessions, once a week, while the control group received simple writing exercises with no intervention. Participants completed World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (alpha=0.91), Death Attitude Profile-Revised (alpha=0.88), and Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (alpha=0.87) three times as pretest, posttest, and follow-up assessments. Data were analyzed by ANCOVA in SPSS V. 21 software. Results The intervention group showed a significant decrease in death attitude dimensions of "fear of death" and "death avoidance" and a significant increase in the quality of life dimension of "mental health" compared to the control group. Conclusion The designed package based on ACT seems to reduce the death anxiety and death avoidance, and any change in attitude towards death in cancer patients may be related to their mental health.