The Effectiveness of an Online Self-Delivered Death Anxiety Intervention

"The online self-guided death anxiety intervention developed in this study is based on the Death Education and CBT framework. It took approximately two hours to complete the full intervention. The main content includes:~1. Emotional reactions and behavioral manifestations about death, fear management theories, and Chinese cultural attitudes toward death;~2. Imagine what you would like to say to yourself at the end of your life, and learn about various attitudes towards death through numerous examples;~3. Expressive writing, with moderate emotional exposure to stimulate reflection, accompanied by breathing exercises and positive thinking about death, to improve tolerance and control of death anxiety, and finally to correct biased perceptions by examining bad beliefs about death;~4. Prioritize the importance of things and make a practical action plan to enrich your life."

Participants assigned to WL will be asked not to use our death anxiety intervention or seek additional help related to death anxiety during the 1-week intervention period. After the one-month follow-up of the experimental group, the WL group will receive the same intervention for death anxiety. WL participants will also be given contact information to use in case of increasing distress.