Stigmatization and Fear of Death Predicted Psychological Burden of Cancer Patients

Abstract

The study was conducted to investigate the impact of stigmatization and fear of death on psychological burden among cancer patients. Correlation research design was used to complete this quantitative study. Data were collected through administering a survey with the help of questionnaires. Purposive sampling was employed to select the sample of 79 cancer patients (male = 49, female = 30). Findings of the study reveal that perceived stigma and fear of death were significantly positive correlated with psychological burden. Moreover, Stigmatization and fear of death are the significant positive predictors of depression, anxiety and stress. Furthermore, results depict that female patients have the greater level of perceived cancer stigma and fear of death as compared to male. In addition, psychological burden was found among female at greater level than male cancer patients. It is recommended that clinical psychologists and psychotherapists should provide their role in counterturning stigmatization, death anxiety and psychological disturbance.