Investi̇gati̇on of death anxi̇ety and spi̇ri̇tual well-bei̇ng levels of the i̇ndi̇vi̇duals who have pati̇ent i̇n i̇ntensi̇ve care uni̇t

Objective: In this descriptive and cross-sectional study, we aimed to investigate the level of death anxiety and spiritual well-being of the first-degree relatives of the patients in intensive care units who were hospitalized for examination and treatment. Method: The study was carried out with the relatives of 308 patients, 201 of whom were female and 107 were male. The data were collected by face to face interview method. In the collection of study data; The Patient Relation and Patient Descriptive Characteristics Form and Templer's (1970) Death Anxiety Scale and the Spiritual Well-Being Scale developed by Ekşi and Kardaş (2016) were used. Pearson Correlation Analysis, Student-T Test and One-Way ANOVA were used to analyze the data. Results: The mean Death Anxiety Scores of the patient's relatives were found as 7.99±3.15. According to the scale evaluation, there were 115 (%37.3) individuals with a low level of anxiety and 193 (62.7%) individuals with a high level of anxiety. The mean score of Spiritual Well-being Scale of the relatives of the patients was determined as 121.83±12.91, and the relatives of the patients received a minimum of 77 points and a maximum of 145 points according to this scale. According to the study findings; It was determined that there was a positive and significant correlation (r = 0.200, p =0.000) between the mean score of the Death Anxiety Scale and the mean score of the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (p<0.05). Conclusion: It is observed that the Spiritual Well Being levels of the relatives of the patients increased, as the Death Anxiety levels increased. This situation tells us that; It may be thought that relatives of the patient have more turn to spiritual feelings to cope with increasing Death Anxiety due to fear of losing their patients in the intensive care unit. Keywords: Intensive Care Units, Patient's Relatives, Death Anxiety, Spiritual Well Being, Nursing