GLOBAL PSYCHIATRY ARCHIVES

Abstract

Objectives: Knowing people’s attitudes towards death is useful in examining people’s level of flexibility, problem management, and self-care. The religious and related cultural background of an individual may affect an individual's attitude towards death. Hence, the current study evaluated Christian and Muslim respondents' attitudes towards death in Iraqi society.
Methods: In a cross-sectional study, 100 individuals from the two main religious groups (Muslim and Christian) were group-matched for gender, age, marital status, and personal monthly income. The attitude towards death was measured through a death attitude profile-revised questionnaire, and findings were analyzed via SPSS version 20 by applying Pearson correlation and central tendencies.
Results: Findings revealed that both religions' followers have no fear of death (No death anxiety) and, at the same time, approach acceptance towards death. Although overall, religion had no significant effect on participant attitudes towards death, which means both religion’s followers share the same approaches and attitudes towards death.
Conclusion: From the current research work, it can be concluded that there is no impact of religion on individual attitudes towards death and both religious followers have no death anxiety, meanwhile, both Muslims and Christians have positive attitudes through five-dimensional attitudes toward death. Future studies should focus on a larger population with different cultures and religious backgrounds to generalize these findings to other populations and cultural backgrounds.