Introduction: Grief is a complex reaction that occurs after the death of a loved one and has stages. The individual cannot return to normal life until these steps are completed.
Aim: This study aimed to compare symptoms of grief reaction, death anxiety, and psychological distress among bereaved people due to the corona, natural death, and cancer.
Method: This study was a causal-comparative study. The research statistical population included all first-degree bereaved people of those who died due to corona, cancer, and normal death, in the period of the second half of 2020 and the first four months of 2021 in Sanandaj, among which 180 people (each group 60 people) were selected. These samples were selected from among the different strata of the society who had passed away at least one month ago. Based on this, a purposive sampling method was used. The research tools included the Grief Experience Questionnaire (GEQ), the Lovibond depression-anxiety-stress scale (DASS-21), and the Templer Death Anxiety Scale (1970). The obtained data were analyzed using one-way and multi-way analyses of variance in the SPSS23 software environment.
Results: The results showed that the rate of grief reaction and psychological distress in corona patients was more severe and higher than those suffering from cancer and natural death (P<0.01). In addition, anxiety about death due to corona was higher than death due to natural death (p <0.01), but there is no significant difference between bereaved people from cancer and corona in death anxiety (p<0.05.
Conclusion: According to the results, bereaved people due to corona need special psychological services and counseling.
