Extended Abstract
1. Objectives
Older adults face several health and well-being issues [1, 2]. Psychological well-being depends on a variety of factors, including spiritual commitment and religiosity [3-5]. Religiosity can improve mental well-being by reducing Death Anxiety (DA). Religion manages the human fear of death by the promise of immortality [6, 7]. Self-compassion is a mediating variable between religion and well-being. It is a recently developed structure that has created a new means of understanding and promoting human well-being [8]. Furthermore, it is necessary to study the relationship between religiosity and well-being in different cultures and religions. Such investigations help to determine how religiosity can positively affect different cultures. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of religious orientation on the psychological well-being of older men through the mediating role of DA and self-compassion.
2. Methods & Materials
This was a descriptive study with a cross-sectional design based on Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The study population consisted of all older men living in Mehrgan Nursing Home in Kermanshah City, Iran (n=700). Of them, 300 were randomly selected as the study samples. The following tools were used for surveying the study participants:
Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE): The maximum obtainable score of this test is 30; scores ≤23 indicate cognitive impairment [9]. This test has been used on the Iranian elderlies, and its acceptable validity and reliability have been reported [10].
Revised Intrinsic/Extrinsic Religious Orientation Scale: It measures the religiosity using three factors (intrinsic religiousness, extrinsic personally oriented religiousness, and extrinsic socially-oriented religiousness). This version is suitable for people with different educational levels [11]. Its Persian version was developed by Ghorbani et al. [12]. They reported an alpha coefficient of 0.65-0.74 for the internal consistency of its subscales.
Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being Scale (PWB): The psychometric properties of the Persian version of this scale was investigated by Khanjani and colleagues [13]. It has 6 subscales. The total score of these subscales is considered as the scale’s overall score. The subscales are rated on a 6-point Likert-type scale [14].
Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form (SCS-SF): This tool was designed by Raes and associates [15]. It has 6 subscales rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale. Its Persian version has acceptable validity and reliability [16]. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the whole questionnaire was obtained as 0.65.
Templer’s Death Anxiety Scale (DAS): It was developed by Templer (1970). Its questions are answered as “yes” or “no”. Its Persian version has appropriate reliability and validity [17]. The collected data were analyzed in SPSS using descriptive and inferential statistics. For SEM, AMOS was used.
3. Results
To investigate the causal and structural relationships between the study variables, the SEM method was used. As a result, the first confirmatory factor analysis was conducted, and the SEM model was provided. To estimate the model parameters, the maximum likelihood estimation method was used. Its first condition is the normality of data distribution. According to the achieved results, this condition was met. The second condition is that the variables’ measured level must be higher than an ordinal scale. This condition was also met in our study. After verifying the appropriate fitness of the measurement model, the SEM was drawn based on the latest changes. Based on the coefficients for the direct path from religious orientation to PWB without the presence of mediator (total effect), the direct effect results for the variables are presented in Table 1. To assess their indirect effects, the Bootstrap method was used with a (95%) confidence interval and 5000 bootstrap samples. The relevant results also are presented in Table 1. According to the obtained results, religious orientation has a significant positive effect on PWB without the presence of mediators (i.e. it has a total effect on that). It was also directly and significantly effective on self-compassion and DA.
Furthermore, self-compassion had a strong direct and significant effect on PWB, while DA had significant negative effects on PWB. The indirect effect of religious orientation on PWB via regulating DA and self-compassion was also observed. The direct effect of religious orientation on PWB with the presence of mediators was not significant; therefore, the model had a good fit and religious orientation directly affected PWB. DA and self-compassion could completely mediate the relationship between religious orientation and PWB.
4. Conclusion
The measurement model consisted of religious orientation, PWB, DA, and self-compassion had an appropriate fit. The present study aimed to explain how religious orientation affects the PWB of older people. The researchers explored the functions and effects of religion that play decisive roles in the relationship between religion and PWB. It is necessary to find them if present. It was concluded that religious orientation was directly related to PWB. Additionally, DA and self-compassion could mediate the relationship between them. Accordingly, religiosity can positively affect the PWB of the elderly by increasing their self-compassion and reducing their DA.

Ethical Considerations
Compliance with ethical guidelines
In order to observe ethical codes, written informed consent was obtained from all elderly participants in the research. Also, this research was finalized in the dissertation committee of Razi University of Kermanshah and the Ethics Committee of Razi University approved it.
Funding
The present paper was extracted from the MSc. thesis of the first author, Departmant of General Psychology in Razi University of Kermanshah. Also this article was funded by the researcher project "Elderly, Second Half of the Life" at Razi University. 
Authors' contributions
Conceptualization, methodology, validation, analysis, research, resource, writing, drafting, visualization, project management: All authors; supervision and financing: Khodamorad Momeni and Asie Moradi.
Conflicts of interest
The authors declared no conflict of interest.