Empirically tested interventions for death anxiety among older americans: a systematic review

Death anxiety around the world may vary due to the beliefs, traditions, and customs of different cultures. Common interventions for death anxiety focus on meaning-making and spirituality, both of which vary by culture. While death anxiety interventions studies are well-established outside of the United States, the effect of those interventions for culture groups within the United States is unknown. This systematic review synthesizes United States-based intervention studies over the last 20 years and analyzes their methodology, results, and cultural transferability. Using the PRISMA methodology, this review found six studies (N=6) meeting the inclusion criteria. Results showed only two studies had a significant finding for reducing death anxiety. Half of the studies had high methodological rigor. A meaning-centered psychotherapy group intervention study was the lone study with high methodological rigor having significant finding for decreased death anxiety. No study examined the cultural adaptability of interventions or disaggregated results by race/ethnicity. Implications for this dearth of evidence-informed literature, relevant to nursing and allied health care professionals, were discussed.