Religiosity and death anxiety among cancer patients: the mediating role of religious comfort and struggle

Objectives: Religiosity may serve as a personal source of support when people face a life-threatening illness, but it can also elicit stress. The main aim of this study is to show how various religious dimensions interplay in predicting death anxiety in patients diagnosed as having cancer. Material and Methods: In the cross‐sectional, descriptive‐analytical research, 141 Polish patients who were hospitalized due to cancer were selected using sequential convenience sampling. Data were collected using the Centrality of Religiosity Scale, Religious Comfort and Strain Scale, and the Death Anxiety and Dying Distress Scale. Results: The authors’ results show that the effect of the centrality of religiosity on death anxiety is non-linear. The authors can also confirm the mediating role of religious comfort and struggles in the relationship between the centrality of religiosity and death anxiety. Conclusions: Thus, religious struggles appear to weaken the effect of religion on death anxiety, whereas religious comfort (contrary to expectation) does not enhance it.