Clinical trial NCT06876103: Effectiveness of an Online Religiously-integrated Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-based Intervention on Death Anxiety
Official title: Investigating the Effectiveness of an Online Religiously-integrated Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-based Intervention on Death Anxiety
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Death Anxiety
Keywords: death anxiety
religiously integrated cognitive behavioral therapy
classical cognitive behavioral therapy
randomized control study
Lead sponsor: Ibn Haldun University
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2025-03-14
Enrollment: 44
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 65
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: This study employs a parallel assignment design, where participants are randomly allocated to either the intervention or control group to compare treatment effects.
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: There has been growing awareness of the importance of death anxiety (DA) in pathological anxiety. DA is defined as a persistent and unreasonable fear of death and thoughts, fears, and emotions associated with the end of life. DA has been suggested as a core fear that underpins the emergence and perseverance of numerous anxiety disorders. However, previous DA-based treatment studies focus on the elderly, the patients, or health professionals who care for the terminally ill. Therefore, there is a need to examine the effect of psychological interventions on DA and current disorder symptoms in a clinical sample through randomized controlled trials. The current study aims to develop a novel Religiously Integrated Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (RCBT)-based intervention on DA in individuals diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and to compare the effectiveness of RCBT-based intervention with classical CBT-based intervention.

Detailed description: Religion facilitates the pursuit of symbolic immortality by providing individuals with purpose and hope in both life and death. Those who believe in an afterlife also see their world as fairer, which results in lower levels of psychiatric symptoms. Previous CBT-based death anxiety interventions did not consider the assumption of an afterlife. RCBT is an approach that integrates spiritual or religious beliefs into the therapeutic process. RCBT is an approach that recognizes the importance of spirituality or religion in a client's life and aims to use these beliefs and practices positively within the context of evidence-based CBT. Briefly, no intervention studies have investigated the effect of RCBT on DA. This will be the first study to develop an RCBT-based intervention for DA.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Aged 18-65
* A score of \> 26 on the Turkish Death Anxiety Scale
* Diagnosed with one of the anxiety disorders
* Believing in life after death

Exclusion Criteria:

* Diagnosed with schizophrenia, schizophreniform disorder, schizoaffective disorder, and delusional disorder
* Being in an active manic episode
* Possessing a mental disorder that interferes with completing measures or understanding the exercises conducted during sessions
* Extreme symptoms of depression (score of \> 20 on the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and \>1 on the item assessing suicidality)
* Currently receiving therapy.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Turkish Death Anxiety Scale (TDAS)
timeFrame: Baseline (pretest), Week 7 (posttest), 3-month follow-up
measure: Abdel-Khalek's Death Anxiety Scale (ASDA)
timeFrame: Baseline (pretest), Week 7 (posttest), 3-month follow-up
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7)
timeFrame: Baseline (pretest), Week 7 (posttest), 3-month follow-up
measure: Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)
timeFrame: Baseline (pretest), Week 7 (posttest), 3-month follow-up
Other outcomes:
measure: Belief in a Day of Judgment Scale
timeFrame: Baseline (pretest), Week 7 (posttest), 3-month follow-up
measure: Muslim Practice and Belief Scale
timeFrame: Baseline (pretest), Week 7 (posttest), 3-month follow-up
Locations:
city: İstanbul
country: Turkey
facility: Ibn Haldun University
Study officials:
affiliation: Ibn Haldun University
name: Büşra Kavla, PhD Student
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: Ibn Haldun University
name: Burcu Uysal, Associate Professor
role: STUDY_CHAIR
References:
citation: Aydoğan, A. S., Gülseren, Ş., Sarıkaya, Ö. Ö., & Özen, Ç. (2015). Abdel-Khalek ölüm anksiyetesi ölçeği Türkçe formunun üniversite öğrencilerinde geçerlilik ve güvenilirliği. Nöropsikiyatri Arşivi, 52, 371-375.
citation: Abdel-Khalek AM. A general factor of death distress in seven clinical and non-clinical groups. Death Stud. 2004 Nov;28(9):889-98. doi: 10.1080/07481180490491040.