Efficacy of Quranic Therapy and Spiritual Counselling on Death Anxiety & Spiritual Distress among Terminally Ill Patients: A Quantitative Analysis

Abstract

The Islamic way of life provides a support mechanism and helps patients with terminal diseases. Patients being diagnosed with a terminal disease experience high levels of death anxiety and spiritual grief. It is needed for the patients dealing with death anxiety and spiritual distress to have proper guidance and help to develop positive coping strategies. For this purpose, the present study is designed. A sample of 100 patients diagnosed with grade IV cancer and HIV was selected from hospitals in Lahore, Okara, and Multan. Patients were assessed through the Death Anxiety Scale, the spiritual distress scale, and the brief-RCOPE Scale. After pre-assessment, patients were given 7 sessions of Qur’anic therapy along with positive Spiritual counseling by an Islamic scholar. A post assessment of the study variables was conducted using above mentioned scales. Descriptive analysis, Pearson correlation, t-test, and regression analysis were applied to obtain data using SPSS software. The results of the paired-sample t-test showed that, after receiving spiritual counseling, the levels of death anxiety and spiritual distress were significantly reduced. Moreover, spiritual counseling also enhanced religious coping. This study concluded that there is an overall positive impact on death anxiety, spiritual distress, and religious coping in patients with terminal illness.