A longitudinal survey of death anxiety in patients with newly diagnosed cancer / 中国心理卫生杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the level of death anxiety and its related factors in patients with newly diagnosed cancer at different stages.Methods:A total of 266 cancer patients in a tertiary oncology hospital were se-lected and investigated at admission(Tl),discharge(T2),and 1 month after discharge(T3).They were assessed with the self-compiled general information questionnaire,Templer's Death Anxiety Scale(T-DAS),Acceptance and Action Questionnaire Second Edition(AAQ-Ⅱ.),and the Chinese version of the Meaning in Life Questionnaire(C-MLQ).The Kruskal-Wallis H test and generalized estimating equation were used to analyze the level of death anxi-ety and its influencing factors in cancer patients at different time points.Results:The Kruskal-Wallis H test showed that the total T-DAS scores and the difference in the scores of the four dimensions were statistically significant at three time points(Ps＜0.01),with the highest T1 score and the lowest T3 score.The results of generalized estima-ting equation showed that male gender(β=1.25),junior high school education(β=2.59),worker(β=1.46),farmer(β=1.67),respiratory(β=1.74),digestive system tumor(β=2.51),and AAQ-Ⅱ score(β=0.23)posi-tively predicted death anxiety in patients with cancer.Head and neck(β=-1.73),breast tumors(β=-1.84),stage Ⅰ(β=-2.58)and stage Ⅱ tumors(β=-2.11),and C-MLQ score(β=-0.15)negatively predicted death anxiety in patients with cancer.Conclusion:Death anxiety in patients with newly diagnosed cancer is highest on ad-mission and gradually relieves after discharge.