Evaluation of Fear of Death and Health Affecting Behavior in Oncohematology Patients and Healthy People

Objective. Evaluate the level of fear of death as well as correlation between fear of death and health affecting behavior in oncohematology patients and healthy people.
Material and methods. 186 respondents participated in research: 87 oncohematology patients and 99 healthy people. To evaluate fear of death, Collett-Lester fear of death and dying scale was used. This scale has four subscales: Your Own Death, Your Own Dying, The Death of Others and The Dying of Others. To evaluate health affecting behavior additional questions were asked. Data normality was checked using Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. To determine correlation between variables Pearson and Spearman correlation coeficient was used, and to compare two independent samples - Mann Witney U test. Statistical analysis of data was done ustng Microsoft Oftice Excel 2016 and SPSS 20.0 software. Level of significance p=0.05.
Results. Between oncohematology patients, fear of death questionnaire subscales averages of scores distributed this way: Your Own Death - 20.67; Your Own Dying - 25.62; The Death of Others - 26.77; The Dying of Others - 28.99. Between healthy people, fear of death questionnaire subscales averages of scores distributed this way: Your Own Death - 17.98; Your Own Dying - 23.57; The Death of Others - 25.32; The Dying of Others - 27.82. Between oncohematology patients fear of death and health affecting behavior low statistically significant correlation is observed in sleeping habits (r=0.283) and use of alcohol (r=0.266) scales. Between healthy people fear of death and health affecting behavor low statistically significant correlation is observed in eating habits (r=0.246), sleeping habits (r=0.262) and physical activity (r=0.241) scales. In both groups low statistically significant correlation is observed between fear of death and religiousness (r=0.214 in oncohematology patients and r=0.251 in healthy people). Between oncohematology patient’s fear of death and female gender low statistically significant correlation is observed (r=0.390). Between oncohematology patient’s fair of death and primary, secondary and college education low statistically significant correlation is observed (r=-0.272), while in group of healthy people, low statistically significant correlation (r=0.236) is observed between fear of death and university education.
Conclusions. The fear of death is stronger among people with oncohematology diseases. Both of groups fears other’s death and dying more than the one of their own. Between oncohematology patients increasing fear of death scores results in higher scores of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (quality of sleep decreases) and in higher alcohol consumption questionnaire score (less alcohol consumption). Between healthy people increasing fear of death scores results in higher scores of Eating Habits Questionnaire (worse eating habits), in higher scores of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (quality of sleep decreases) however in higher scores of Physical Activity Questionnaire (physical activity increases). In both groups higher scores of fear of death relate to higher score of religiousness. Between oncohematology patients women feel higher fear of death than men. In oncohematology patients higher fear of death is observed between primary, secondary and college education respondents, while in group of healthy people - fear of death is stronger between respondents who have university degree.