Brown Tyler L, Chown Philippa, Solomon Sheldon, Gore Genevieve, De Groot Janet M, MacKinnon Christopher J, Rodin Gary, Sanders Justin J
Department of Oncology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
Department of Family Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
Psychooncology. 2025 Jan;34(1):e70068. doi: 10.1002/pon.70068.
Individuals living with advanced cancer commonly experience death anxiety, which refers to the distressing thoughts or feelings associated with awareness of one's mortality. Deriving an overview of existing literature on the psychological and social factors linked to death anxiety may inform conceptual models, clinical screening, and intervention strategies in oncology and palliative care. Therefore, the present scoping review was conducted to summarize the current literature on the psychosocial correlates of death anxiety among individuals with advanced cancer.
A comprehensive scoping review methodology was used following the Arksey and O'Malley framework. A literature search was conducted using four electronic databases: CINAHL, Embase, PsycInfo, and MEDLINE. Abstracts and full-text articles were screened, and relevant data were extracted and summarized.
Sixteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Seventeen psychosocial correlates of death anxiety were identified, with depression, spiritual well-being, and attachment security representing the most frequently investigated. Four previously tested death anxiety models were also identified, two of which were designed longitudinally.
This review provides a current summary of psychosocial factors and established models related to death anxiety in advanced cancer. Multiple psychosocial correlates should be targeted concurrently in research and clinical practice to address death anxiety. Longitudinal studies designed to test new models are especially needed to identify unique pathways contributing to death anxiety across the disease trajectory of advanced cancer.
晚期癌症患者通常会经历死亡焦虑，即与意识到自己的死亡相关的痛苦想法或感受。对与死亡焦虑相关的心理和社会因素的现有文献进行综述，可能会为肿瘤学和姑息治疗中的概念模型、临床筛查及干预策略提供信息。因此，开展了本次范围综述，以总结关于晚期癌症患者死亡焦虑的心理社会相关性的当前文献。
遵循阿克西和奥马利框架，采用全面的范围综述方法。使用四个电子数据库进行文献检索：护理学与健康领域数据库（CINAHL）、荷兰医学文摘数据库（Embase）、心理学文摘数据库（PsycInfo）和医学文献数据库（MEDLINE）。对摘要和全文文章进行筛选，并提取和总结相关数据。
16项研究符合纳入标准。确定了17个与死亡焦虑相关的心理社会因素，其中抑郁、精神健康和依恋安全性是研究最多的。还确定了四个先前测试过的死亡焦虑模型，其中两个是纵向设计的。
本综述提供了晚期癌症中与死亡焦虑相关的心理社会因素和既定模型的当前总结。在研究和临床实践中，应同时针对多个心理社会相关因素来解决死亡焦虑问题。尤其需要开展旨在测试新模型的纵向研究，以确定在晚期癌症疾病轨迹中导致死亡焦虑的独特途径。
