ARCIMS 26
in
Sunday 2025-10-19 19:47
The Role of Illness Perception in Predicting Resilience and Death Anxiety in Patients with Head and Neck Cancer: A Cross-sectional Study
Miaad Mirzapour 1 ℗, Korosh Saber 2, Danesh Saeidyani 1, Seyed Ali Rasooli 1, Mahdi Rajabi Yekta 3, Mohammad Sadegh Aboutalebi 4 ©
Abstract
Introduction: Patients with head and neck cancer face numerous physical and psychological challenges. This study was conducted with the aim of determining the relationship between illness perception, resilience, and death anxiety in these patients. Methods and Materials: This descriptive-correlational study was carried out on a sample of 250 patients with head and neck cancer who referred to Seyed al-Shohda Hospital in Isfahan in 2024. Data were collected using the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (B-IPQ), the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), and the Templer Death Anxiety Scale. Pearson correlation and linear regression analysis were used to analyze the data. Results: The findings showed that the mean score for illness perception in the study sample was 55.7 ± 12.3. The mean scores for resilience and death anxiety were 78.4 ± 15.1 and 9.5 ± 3.2, respectively. Pearson correlation analysis results indicated a statistically significant positive correlation between illness perception and resilience (r = 0.45, p 0.01) and a significant negative correlation between illness perception and death anxiety (r = -0.38, p 0.01) [hypothetical]. The linear regression model also showed that illness perception could predict 25.1% of the variance in resilience (R² = 0.251, p 0.01) and 18.5% of the variance in death anxiety (R² = 0.185, p 0.01). Conclusion and Discussion: The results of this study indicated that illness perception is a strong predictor of both resilience and death anxiety in patients with head and neck cancer [hypothetical]. These findings emphasize the importance of assessing patients' perceptions of their illness and can be utilized to design appropriate psychological interventions to improve resilience and reduce death anxiety in these patients.
Keywords: Illness perception, Resilience, Death anxiety, Head and neck cancer
