Death Anxiety: Implications for Depression and Anxiety - An Experimental Study
试验速览
- 阶段
- 不适用
- 状态
- 招募中
- 发起方
- 入组人数
- 128
- 试验地点
- 1
- 主要终点
- Collet-Lester Fear of Death Scale - Revised (CLFD-R)
研究概览
简要总结
The goal of this experimental study is to investigate the transdiagnostic role of death anxiety in depression and anxiety symptoms in participants from the general population.
The main questions it aims to answer are:
- Does the mortality salience task induce death anxiety?
- Does the experimental group present an increase in depression and anxiety symptoms following the mortality salience task?
The investigators will compare the experimental condition to a control condition to see if the death anxiety induction is responsible for the expected increase in depression and anxiety symptoms.
The mortality salience prompt will be asking participants to elaborate on their thoughts and feelings surrounding death and dying, including what they think happens during death. The dental pain prompt will ask participants to do the same, only in regards to the thought of having dental pain.
Experimental group: participants will undergo a pen-and-paper writing task where they will be asked to answer two questions:
- "Please briefly describe the emotions that the thought of your own death arouses in you."
- "Jot down, as specifically as you can, what you think will happen to you physically as you die and once you are physically dead."
Control group:
- "Please briefly describe the emotions that the thought of dental pain arouses in you."
- "Jot down, as specifically as you can, what you think happens to you physically as you experience dental pain and once you have physically experienced dental pain."
详细描述
The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of death anxiety as a transdiagnostic factor in psychopathology. In this particular study, the investigators will examine whether increases in death anxiety - brought about by increasing the salience of death by use of a mortality salience prime lead to increases in levels of depression and anxiety.
Participants will provide their informed consent and will proceed to complete the measures of the study (pretest). Eligible participants will be randomly allocated to either the mortality salience group (experimental group), or the dental pain group (the control group). Participants will be blind to group allocation.
Two weeks after completing the pretest measures, the participants will come to the lab and undergo the experimental tasks, depending on the condition that they have been allocated to.
Experimental group: participants will undergo a pen-and-paper writing task where they will be asked to answer two questions
- Please briefly describe the emotions that the thought of your own death arouses in you.
- Jot down, as specifically as you can, what you think will happen to you physically as you die and once you are physically dead.
研究设计
- 研究类型
- Interventional
- 分配方式
- Randomized
- 干预模型
- Parallel
- 主要目的
- Basic Science
- 盲法
- Single (Participant)
入排标准
- 年龄范围
- 18 Years 至 65 Years（Adult, Older Adult）
- 性别
- All
- 接受健康志愿者
- 是
入选标准
- •Age over 18 years.
- •Living in Cluj-Napoca (or otherwise willing and able to participate in the lab task)
排除标准
- •Personality disorder diagnosis
- •Psychotic disorder diagnosis
- •Suicidal ideation
研究组 & 干预措施
Mortality Primed
Participants in this arm will be instructed to answer two questions that are meant to bring to awareness thoughts about their mortality: "Please briefly describe the emotions that the thought of your death arouses in you." and "Jot down, as specifically as you can, what you think will happen to you physically as you die and once you are physically dead."
干预措施: Mortality Salience Prompts (Behavioral)
Dental Pain Primed
Participants in this arm will be instructed to answer two questions that may bring to mind thoughts and memories of dental pain: "Please briefly describe the emotions that the thought of dental pain arouses in you." and "Jot down, as specifically as you can, what you think happens to you physically as you experience dental pain and once you have physically experienced dental pain."
干预措施: Dental Pain Prompts (Behavioral)
结局指标
主要结局
Collet-Lester Fear of Death Scale - Revised (CLFD-R)
时间窗: Baseline (Day 1), After the experimental task (Day 14)
The Revised version of the Collet-Lester Fear of Death Scale (CLFD-R) is a validated self-report instrument assessing fear and anxiety in regards to death and dying. The scale is comprised of 32 items that are answered from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very much) Possible scores range from 32 to 160. Higher scores indicate worse death anxiety.
次要结局
- The Generalized Anxiety Disorder - 7(Baseline (Day 1), After the experimental task (Day 14))
- Patient Health Questionnaire - 9(Baseline (Day 1), After the experimental task (Day 14))
- State and Trait Anxiety Inventory - State subscale(Baseline (Day 1), After the experimental task (Day 14))
研究者
Roxana Cardos
PhD
Babes-Bolyai University