the mediating role of psychological well-being in explaining the effect of a health-promoting lifestyle on death anxiety in seniors with covid-19 experience

The coronavirus and its variants continue to threaten the physical and mental health of many individuals, particularly those among the elderly infected with covid-19. the purpose of this study was to examine the mediating role of psychological well-being in explaining the impact of a health-promoting lifestyle on death anxiety among seniors with covid-19 experience in tehran. this descriptive, correlational study involved a population of home-dwelling men and women aged 65 to 75 years in tehran in 2023, who had experienced covid-19 in the past six months. a targeted sample of 400 individuals responded to the death anxiety scale (templer, 1970), the health-promoting lifestyle profile (walker et al., 1987), and the psychological well-being scale (ryff, 1989). structural equation modeling was employed for data analysis. the findings, obtained using confirmatory factor analysis and amos 24 software, indicated a good fit between the structural model and the collected data. a positive and significant relationship was found between a health-promoting lifestyle and psychological well-being, and a negative and significant relationship between a health-promoting lifestyle and death anxiety, as well as between psychological well-being and death anxiety. indirect pathways between death anxiety, a health-promoting lifestyle, and death anxiety were also confirmed (p = .001). based on the results of this study, it can be stated that a health-promoting lifestyle influences the death anxiety of seniors with covid-19 experience through psychological well-being. the findings of this study can be useful for counselors, psychologists, and health professionals.