An Examination of Psychometric Characteristics and Factor Structure of Death Anxiety Scale Within a Sample of Iranian Patients With Heart Disease

Background and aims: Despite a substantial body of work examining the role of death anxiety (DA)in an individual’s quality of life, there is a lack of valid and standardized instruments that couldmeasure this construct for patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). The objective of this study wasto examine the psychometric characteristics and factor structure of the Templer Death Anxiety Scale(TDAS) within a sample of Iranian patients who had experienced acute myocardial infarction (AMI).Methods: In this study, ۵۸۴ patients with CHD completed the TDAS. A principal components analysisevaluated dimensionality of the measuring instrument. Reliability and validity were assessed.Results: Factor analysis found ۳ distinct factors (fear of death due to illness, fear of facing death, anddistress due to short time of life). Convergent and discriminant validity for the constructs of the TDASwere fulfilled. The internal consistency for the measure was < ۰.۷۰.Conclusion: Findings revealed that the Persian version of the TDAS is a valid and reliable instrumentthat can be used for the assessment and evaluation of DA in Iranian patients with CHD.

کلیدواژه ها:

Heart disease ، Death anxiety ، Psychometric properties ، Iran