Abstract

Background and Aim: Several factors can affect an individual's level of death anxiety, but very few studies have investigated the role of spiritual intelligence and spiritual well-being. There is also limited research investigating death anxiety in the veterans of wars. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to determine the relationship between spiritual intelligence, spiritual well-being and death anxiety in Iranian veterans. Methods: In this descriptive cross sectional study (in 2014), veterans completed the King's spiritual intelligence scale, Paloutzian and Ellison's spiritual well-being scale and Templar's death anxiety scale-extended. The data were analyzed using multiple linear regression and two way analysis of variance by SPSS-16. Results: The findings showed that the average age of 211 veterans was 48.9 ± 4.6 years. The results revealed no significant difference between the demographic variables and the level of death anxiety reported by veterans (p> 0.05). However, spiritual intelligence and spiritual well-being had a significant and negative relationship with death anxiety. The higher the reported spiritual intelligence and spiritual well-being, the lower the death anxiety (p< 0.05). Conclusion: The findings from this study show that spiritual intelligence and spiritual health can reduce the level of death anxiety among veterans. Given that death anxiety is a common nursing diagnosis, the use of spirituality should be considered within a clinical context to harness the psychological health and coping strategies of veterans.