Spirituality and Death Anxiety: A Comparative Study on State Anxiety, Post-Traumatic Development, Unconditional Self-Acceptance, Life’s Purpose and Psychological Well-Being in People Diagnosed with Cancer, Survivors of a Life-Threatening Event, and Termin

Objective: This study aims to examine the effect of time on psychological variables such as anxiety as a state, posttraumatic development, unconditional acceptance of oneself, psychological well-being and a dimension thereof, namely the purpose and meaning of life in the case of oncological patients upon diagnosis and in the terminal phase of the disease. We also aimed to study the differences in terms of the same psychological variables between oncological patients in the terminal stage of the disease and those who have faced a life-threatening experience, just as we wanted to establish whether spiritual experiences (NDEs/DBVsS/ELEs) mainly characterize a certain group among the three evaluated. Methods: A community sample of 309 participants, 103 subjects in each category, of which 181 males (58,6%) and 128 females (41,4%), with ages between 19-76 years. The 103 participants with a cancer diagnosis who reached the terminal phase of the disease after 3 years were 68 males (66%) and 35 females (34%) aged between 31-76 years, and the 103 participants recovering from life-threatening events were 45 males (43.7%), 58 females (56.3%) aged between 19-59 years, the study being conducted between January 2022-January 2025. The instruments were: Posttraumatic Development Scale – SGRS, State Anxiety – Trait Inventory (STAI), USAQ Scale, Ryff's Psychological Well-Being Scale (PWB-R). Results: The results showed significant differences between oncology patients at diagnosis and in the terminal phase, indicating a significant effect of time on state anxiety F(1; 102) = 1290.33, p = .000, η2 = .92, unconditional self-acceptance F(1; 102) = 749.58, p = .000, η2 = .88, posttraumatic development F(1; 102) = 1618.86, p = .000, η2 = .94, psychological well-being F(1; 102) = 86.72, p = .000, η2 = .46, purpose and meaning in life F(1; 102) = 1092.05, p = .000, η2 = .91.