A Meta-analysis of Spiritual Factors Affecting Death Anxiety in the Elderly in the Iranian Studies

Death anxiety is one of the most common problems in old age that is affected by several factors. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the spiritual factors affecting the death anxiety of the elderly in the Iranian society.

In this meta-analytical study, using internal databases, 22 studies about death anxiety in the elderly published between 2010 and 1400, which met the criteria for inclusion in the study, were collected and analyzed. Statistical analysis was performed using comprehensive meta-analysis software. The authors of the article did not report any conflict of interests.

The combined effect size index of the studies was 0.382 under the fixed model and 0.465 under the random model. In a separate study of the effect size of the variables, the variables of spiritual confrontation therapy, spiritual therapy, semantics, relationship with God and Islamic spiritual therapy had the greatest effect on death anxiety, respectively. The results of publication bias methods indicated publication bias in the combined studies in the present meta-analysis. Due to the heterogeneity of the studies, a moderating analysis was performed for the variables of gender and research method, which indicated the moderating effect of the research method variable on the results of the studies.

It seems necessary to pay attention to the spiritual factors affecting death anxiety as important and important factors that improve death anxiety.