Emre ERKAL, Enver CANER
International Journal of Health Services Research and Policy - 2025;10(3):201-211
The purpose of this study was to assess death anxiety and religious coping among individuals in Turkey. A cross-sectional design was used in this study, including 1,897 participants who were selected through the snowball sampling method. The data for the study were collected using a Participant Introductory Form, the Death Anxiety Scale, and the Religious Coping Scale. The data analysis utilized independent sample t-tests, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation analysis. The participants in the study had a mean death anxiety score of 7.90 +/- 3.43. Their mean score for positive religious coping was 22.88 +/- 5.52, while their mean score for negative religious coping was 8.20 +/- 2.95. The results showed a significant positive correlation between the death anxiety score and both the positive religious coping (r = 0.097, p < 0.001) and negative religious coping scores (r = 0.174, p < 0.001). The study revealed that the participants had moderate levels of death anxiety and adopt to utilize high levels of positive religious coping and moderate levels of negative religious coping. Furthermore, it was noted that as individuals' death anxiety levels increased, so did their adopt employ both positive and negative religious coping. Future studies could further explore the impact of religious coping on reducing death anxiety, contributing to the development of spiritual support programs.
