Death Anxiety Among Pakistani HCWs: The Role of COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance and Positive Religious Coping Strategy

Background: The mental health of healthcare workers (HCWs) has been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. To address this, spirituality and religious coping mechanisms have been suggested as a way to maintain well-being and reduce anxiety levels. Additionally, vaccination has been shown to play an essential role in lowering anxiety levels, including death anxiety. However, there is a lack of evidence on how positive religious coping strategies and COVID-19 immunization affect death anxiety levels. To fill this gap, this study uses a Pakistani HCWs sample. Methods: This study collected cross-sectional data from 389 HCWs on socio-demographics, positive religious coping strategies, vaccine acceptance, and death anxiety. Hypothesis testing was done using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Partial Least Squares (PLS) by adopting the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique. Results: The results showed that the positive religious coping strategy and acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine reduced death anxiety among HCWs in Pakistan. HCWs practicing the positive religious coping strategy and vaccine acceptance had lower levels of death anxiety symptoms. Thus, the positive religious coping strategy has a direct effect on reducing death anxiety. Conclusion: In conclusion, COVID-19 immunization positively affects individual mental health by reducing death anxiety. Vaccines protect individuals from COVID-19 infection, providing a sense of security that reduces the chance of death anxiety among HCWs attending to COVID-19 patients.