Objective: The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) outbreak emerged in China in December 2019 and has spread throughout the world, including Turkey. During the pandemic, both the fear of infection that could result in death and the action plans implemented had negative effects on the mental health of the people. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the fear of COVID-19, anxiety, and fear of death in the accompanists of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are receiving treatment in inpatient clinics.
Methods: Fifty six accompanists of hospitalized patients with a diagnosis of COVID-19 were included in the study. The Fear of COVID-19 scale, the Templer death anxiety scale ve the Hamilton anxiety rating scale was used as data collection tools in the study. IBM 21.0 software was used to analyze the data.
Results: Fifty six people included in the study were between the ages of 18-75 (mean age 41.07). Because of the study, it was found that the presence of anxiety increases the fear of COVID-19 by 6.5 units, the presence of fear of death increases the fear of COVID-19 by 5.2 units and the presence of both fears increases the fear of COVID-19 by 11.7 units.
Conclusion: Relatives of people diagnosed with COVID-19 become more vulnerable to the negative psychological effects of the pandemic due to the fear of losing their loved ones and having a higher risk of getting the disease than other people. The families of COVID-19 patients should also be evaluated when preparing mental health programs.