The Effect of Death Anxiety on Psychosocial Adjustment in Individual With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

OBJECTIVES: This study was carried out in a descriptive manner to determine the effect of death anxiety on psychosocial adjustment in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was carried out on 150 inpatients and outpatients who were being treated at the thoracic diseases department of a state hospital during January 1– April 20, 2016. Personal information form, death anxiety scale (DAS) and psychosocial adjustment to illness scale-self report (PAIS-SR) were used for data acquisition. The data were analysed through IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 22 software. RESULTS: The DAS score average of the patients was determined as 6.96 ± 3.45, PAIS-SR total score average was determined as 67.54 ± 14.96. A positive and statistically significant relationship was determined between the death anxiety of the patients and their psychosocial adjustments (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: It can be concluded as a result of the study that the death anxieties of COPD patients are at a moderate level, that their psychosocial adjustments to the disease are at a bad level and that their psychosocial adjustments to the illness and to life are disrupted with increasing death anxiety. Psychiatry nurses can contribute to increasing the psychosocial adjustment to the illness of the patient by helping the patient and his/her family in adjusting to the changes in their life styles, preventing non-beneficial adjustments, developing the coping skills of the patient and his/her family and accordingly making the necessary planning.