Abstract
This study aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of Collett-Lester's Fear of Death Scale. A sample of 349 nursing students answered Fear of Death and Attitude toward death scales. Content validity was checked by expert review; reliability was proven using Cronbach's alpha; statistical analysis of the items, correlation between items and construct validity were checked by the correlation of the Scale with the Attitude toward death Scale. The multidimensionality of the scale was reviewed through factor analysis with varimax rotation. The Fear of Death Scale possesses good internal consistency and construct validity, confirmed by the significant correlation with the Attitude toward death Scale. Factor analysis partially supports content validity of the subscale items, but presented a modified multidimensional structure that points towards the reconceptualization of the subscales in this sample.
Highlights
Fear of death cannot be directly observed, which is why it should be inferred based on a subject’s conduct or self-reported answers
The construct validity of any measure of attitudes towards death is gradually developed over time, as the evolution of Collett-Lester’s Fear toward Death Scale (CLFODS) demonstrates
Regarding CLFODS reliability, its internal consistency or homogeneity was demonstrated through a high Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the global scale www.eerp.usp.br/rlae as well as for each sub-scale of the original Scale, similar to the results obtained in studies that used the same instrument in a student population from Kuwait[21], Nigeria[10] and Spain[12,22]
Summary
Fear of death cannot be directly observed, which is why it should be inferred based on a subject’s conduct or self-reported answers. The construct validity of any measure of attitudes towards death is gradually developed over time, as the evolution of Collett-Lester’s Fear toward Death Scale (CLFODS) demonstrates. The Scale was created in 1969 to eliminite the content heterogeneity problem of the items in the scales used to measure fear of death. These authors suggested that fear of death is a multidimensional concept with different possible causes, which can make a person react differently to the idea of death as a state and/or as a process. Four sub-scales were distinguished: fear of one’s own death, fear of other persons’ death, fear of one’s own dying process and fear of other persons’ dying process[1,2]
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