Understanding Death Anxiety in Patients with Terminal Diseases: Exploring the Impact of Resilience and Optimism

Death anxiety is a distressing fear caused by thoughts of one's own death, impacting mental well-being and disrupting daily life while resilience is the competence to cope with hostile circumstances and optimism is a cognitive construct and it positively influences approach and response to future outcomes. This research aimed to examine resilience and optimism as determinants of death anxiety. The sample size of the study was 120 patients, which included 64 female and 56 male patients of different diseases, and the age range was between 18 - 78 years. Significant negative correlation of resilience and optimism with death anxiety was observed. Multiple regression analyses endorsed resilience and optimism as significant negative predictors of death anxiety. These findings underscore the protective effects of resilience and optimism in the experience of death anxiety among individuals diagnosed with terminal disease. The findings are discussed in light of the findings reported in the existing literature on death anxiety and its correlates.