Beneath the Surface: Examining Psychological Distress, Sleep Issues, Emotional Control, Health Anxiety, and Fear of Death in Cancer Patients

Abstract Background This study's primary objective was to investigate the relationship between health anxiety, psychological distress, emotional regulation, death anxiety, and sleep distress among cancer patients using moderated mediation analysis. Method A purposive sampling technique employed to choose a total of 279 cancer patients from Faisalabad Pakistan. The Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ), Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI), Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS), Death Anxiety Scale (DAS), and Sleep Hygiene Scale (SHS) were used to gather information about the variables. This study employed moderated mediation analysis, which was carried out with the PROCESS macro to enable the mediators and moderators to collaborate within the same model. Results The findings of the study show that health anxiety leads to psychological distress. Death anxiety and emotional regulation act as a mediator between health anxiety and psychological distress. Death anxiety is associated with increased health anxiety and psychological distress. Cancer patients experience psychological distress and anxiety as well as reduced emotional regulation. Conclusion In cancer patients, sleep disturbance has also been shown to act as a moderator between psychological distress and death anxiety. In conclusion, emotional regulation and good sleep hygiene may be able to lessen cancer patients' health anxiety and psychological distress.