Spanish Adaptation of the Collett-Lester Fear of Death Scale

Abstract

The Collett-Lester Fear of Death Scale (CL-FODS) consists of 4 subscales: Death of Self, Dying of Self, Death of Others, and Dying of Others. The aim of this study was to develop a Spanish version of the CL-FODS and to explore its psychometric properties. The revised version of the scale was translated into Spanish from English. Then, the back translation technique was carried out. A sample of 281 Spanish nursing students and professionals responded to the Spanish CL-FODS, along with 2 instruments assessing death anxiety and general anxiety. Good internal consistency and satisfactory test–retest reliability of the 4 subscales of the Spanish CL-FODS were achieved. Its correlations with death anxiety were higher than that with general anxiety, supporting its discriminant validity. The principal component analysis forced to 4 components provided a distribution of loadings that is more coherent with the theoretical formulation of the 4 components than those obtained in previous studies. These results justify the use of the CL-FODS in Spanish-speaking health care professionals for the purpose of assessing attitudes toward death and dying in self and others.