TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page i
Certification page ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgement iv
Table of Contents v
List of tables vi
Abstract vii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Introduction 1
Statement of the Problem 19
Purpose of the Study 19
Operational Definition of Terms 20
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
THEORETICAL REVIEW
Terror Management Theory 21
Becker’s Existential View of Death Theory 24
Regret Theory of Death 25
Meaning Management Theory 26
Theory of Identity Development 28
EMPIRICAL REVIEW
HIV/AIDS and Death Anxiety 28
Locus of Control and Death Anxiety 34
Religious Affiliation and Death Anxiety 36
SUMMARY OF THE LITERATURE REVIEW 41
HYPOTHESES 42
CHAPTER THREE: METHOD
Participants 43
Instrument 43
Procedure 45
Design and Statistics 45
CHAPTER FOUR
Result 46
CHAPTER FIVE
Discussion 50
Implications of the study 53
Limitations of the study 54
Suggestions for further studies 55
Conclusion 56
REFERENCES 58
APPENDICES
A. Demographic data Death Anxiety questionnaire
B . Cronbach’s alpha and split half reliability for Death Anxiety scale Correlation between (DAS) and (STAI)
D. Religious Affiliation Scale
E. Locus of Control Scale
F. Regression table
vi
LIST OF TABLES
1. Table (1): ANOVA summary of HIV/AIDS status, locus of control and religious affiliation as factors in death anxiety among adults in Nsukka Local Government Area.
2. Table (2): Mean scores of HIV/AIDS Positive and Negative Groups on Death Anxiety.
3. Mean (M) scores/standard deviation (SD) of locus of control and religious affiliation on death anxiety
ABSTRACT
The study investigated HIV/AIDS status, locus of control and religious affiliation as factors in death anxiety among three hundred and ninety (390) adults in Nsukka Local Government Area. It was hypothesized that HIV/AIDS status, locus of control and religious affiliation will not be a significant factor in death anxiety among adults in Nsukka Local Government Area. Three instruments were used for data collation in this study: The Death anxiety scale, Locus of control of behaviour scale, and Religious affiliation scale. Analysis of variance was used for data analysis and showed HIV/AIDS as a significant and contributing factor in death anxiety (F (1, 382) = 8.71, p < .001), where HIV/AIDS positive persons scored higher in death anxiety than HIV/AIDS negative persons. The result also indicated locus of control and religious affiliation as not a significant factor in death anxiety. Further, a very significant interaction was found between locus of control and religious affiliation (F (1, 382) = 10.93, p < .01) Discussions emphasized the implications of the findings in the management of persons living with HIV/AIDS, and suggestions were made for further studies.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Death anxiety is becoming one of the greatest challenges facing HIV/AIDS patients. Confronting death and the anxiety generated by knowledge of its inevitability is a universal psychological quandary for humans (Lehto & Stein, 2009). What individuals believe to be true of his or her existence could be a significant factor in moderating his or her level of death anxiety. Carpenito-Moyet (2008) defined death anxiety as the state in which an individual experiences apprehension, worry, or fear related to death and dying. Moorhead, Johnson, Maas and Swanson (2008) on the other hand posit death anxiety as vague uneasy feeling of discomfort or dread generated by perceptions of a real or imagined threat to one’s existence.
Greenberg, Pyszczynski, Solomon, Simon and Breus, (1994) posit death anxiety to have six attributes: Emotion, cognitive, experiential, developmental, socio-cultural shaping and source of motivation. Lehto and Stein (2009) noted that its characteristics may overlap and cluster in three identified categories: Stressful environments such as war or the experience of unpredictable circumstances, diagnosis of a life-threatening illness or the experience of a life threatening event, and experiences with death and dying.
However, studies has pointed out that there exists a positive association between Human Immune Deficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) status and death anxiety (Hintze, Templer, Cappelletty & Frederick, 1993; Catania, Turner, Choi, & Coates, 1992; Franks, Templer, Cappelletty, & Kauffman, 1990; Hayslip, Luhr, & Beyerlein, 1991; Hintze, Templer, Cappelletty, & Frederick, 1993).). HIV/AIDS has been a topic of interest, greatly discussed and researched due to its’ impact on human beings. Lehto and Stein (2009) indicated HIV/AIDS as a life-threatening illness which can trigger death anxiety. It is transmitted through direct contact with infected blood, use of unsterilized sharp objects, sexual contact, oral, anal or vaginal, direct contact with semen or vaginal and cervical secretion, through infected mothers to infants during pregnancy, delivery and breastfeeding.
People living with HIV/AIDS are most likely to face some psychological, physical and social challenges. The psychological effects of living with HIV or being a HIV positive includes: Fear, loss, grief, guilt, denial, anger, anxiety, low self-esteem, stigmatization, depression, suicidal behaviour and thinking. Additional negative correlates of stigmatization for HIV-positive people are depression, anxiety, loneliness, suicidal ideation, and poor treatment adherence (Murphy, Austin, Greenwell, 2006; Relf, Mallinson, Pawlowski, Dolan, & Dekker, 2005).
They see themselves as undesirable by others who view them as “contagious”. This in itself is an emotional situation that can cause infected people to withdraw, not disclose their feelings, and become socially isolated. Inevitably this may lead to an emotional breakdown because these feelings continue to be suppressed. Infected persons are normally in fear because they have to adjust to a new lifestyle.
In this study, locus of control is also one of the variables of interest to be highlighted. The term locus of control was first introduced in the 1950’s by a psychologist Julian Rotter. In conceptualizing the term locus of control refers to a person’s basic belief system about the influences that affect outcomes in their lives. In the field of psychology, Locus of control is considered to be an important aspect of personality. Locus of control is a belief about whether the outcomes of our actions are contingent on what we do (internal control orientation) or on events outside our personal control (external control orientation) (Zimbardo, 1985). It is classified into internal and external locus of control. Osterman, Bjorkqvist, Lagerspetz, Charpentier, Caprara, Pastorelli (1999) affirmed that internal locus of control is composed of dependent events mostly related to one’s permanent characteristics and external locus of control is related to the feeling that outcomes are a result of fate, luck, chance, or in control of others.
