Death anxiety and fear of illness progression or recurrence: a research protocol

What is it about?

Fear of progression or recurrence of chronic physical illness has been associated with negative mental health outcomes across several conditions. Existing research suggests that the fear of death (i.e., death anxiety) may be associated with fear of illness progression or recurrence. However, an overall evaluation of the relationship between fear of illness progression or recurrence and death anxiety is currently lacking. This protocol is for a systematic literature review of existing research that examines the link between death anxiety and fear of illness progression or recurrence of chronic physical illness to determine what type of relationship exists between death anxiety and fear of illness progression or recurrence of chronic physical illnesses, and how strong this relationship is.

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Why is it important?

Given that both death anxiety and fear of illness progression or recurrence have both been linked with negative mental health outcomes,exaining the type of relationship that exists between them will aid in improving the overall wellbeing of people living with chronic physical illness. As death anxiety has been seen to be effectively reduced through cognitive behavioural therapy interventions, if a relationship is found between them, this may have clinical implications for reducing fear of progression or recurrence, and for improving the treatment of illness concerns and broader mental health through targeting death anxiety.

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