Investigating the role of predictive death anxiety in the job satisfaction of pre-hospital emergency personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND: Pre-hospital emergency staffs as the frontline forces fighting against COVID -19 have been affected by this pandemic. Today, the occupational and mental health of these individuals is particularly important to the health care system. Death anxiety is one of the inevitable things in this job, and not paying attention to it can cause unwanted effects such as changing the level of job satisfaction of the personnel. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of predictive death anxiety in the job satisfaction of pre-hospital emergency personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among pre-hospital emergency staffs in Qazvin Province, Iran in 2021–2022. Among the bases chosen by the census method, 198 samples were included in the study by the available method. Data collection tools included the Demographic Checklist, Templer's Death Anxiety scale, and the Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire. The data were analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics and SPSS 20 software. RESULTS: The mean age of the samples was (33.14 ± 6.77). 167 persons were male and the others were female. The average job satisfaction and death anxiety of the personnel were 55.07 ± 11.50 and 8.18 ± 1.96, respectively. Pearson's correlation coefficient between the two variables was r = -0.126 And a null correlation coefficient hypothesis has been confirmed with p-value = 0.077. CONCLUSIONS: The results showed a high level of death anxiety and average job satisfaction. Although these two variables do not have a significant relationship with each other, considering that they do not have the appropriate level, it needs more investigation and consideration. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12873-022-00762-x.