Exploring the Relationship Between Spiritual Well-Being
and Death Anxiety in Survivors of Acute Myocardial
Infarction: Moderating Role of Sex, Marital Status
and Social Support
Previous empirical studies have shown that both spiritual well-being (SWB) and
death anxiety (DA) significantly affect the mental health of patients with acute diseases. In
this regard, our paper contributes to the extant literature by scrutinizing the conditional
relationship between SWB and DA as well as the various mechanisms underpinning such a
relationship in patients with acute myocardial infraction (AMI). A descriptive, correlational
methodology was utilized. Our main sample consisted of 300 patients with acute
myocardial infraction who were hospitalized in a specialized medical institution in Iran
throughout a two-month period (i.e. August–October 2015). Patients completed Spiritual
Well-Being Scale (SWBS) and Templer’s Death Anxiety Scale (TDAS). Even though our
study showed that the relationship between SWB and DA in patients with AMI is nonsignificant,
we found that (1) single patients with higher SWB have lower DA, (2) single patients with higher SWB as well as social support have significantly lower DA, and (3) for
single men/men without social support, there is a negative relationship between SWB and
DA. The relationship between SWB and DA is influenced by factors such as sex, marital
status and social support. In addition, the specific nature of this relationship (i.e. strength
and sign) is dependent upon the sociodemographic characteristics of patients as well as
other contextual influences. Result revealed that although relationship between SWB and
DA is non-significant, this is influenced by factors such as sex and social support. In
addition, the specific nature of this relationship (i.e. strength and sign) is dependent upon
the sociodemographic characteristics of patients as well as other contextual influences