Publicaciones

Se ha analizado el papel de la competencia personal percibida en la manifestación de la ansiedad ante la muerte en 146 estudiantes universitarios de enfermería con una edad media de 21.8años (DT=5.6). Los estudiantes cumplimentaron entre otros datos, la escala de Competencia Personal Percibida de Wallston (1992) y el inventario de ansiedad ante la muerte (Tomás-Sábado & Gómez-Benito, 2005). Los principales resultados muestran diferencias significativas respecto a la ansiedad ante la muerte en relación a la edad, el sexo y los niveles de competencia percibida: las mujeres y los estudiantes más jóvenes presentan mayores niveles de ansiedad ante la muerte, y los estudiantes con mayor competencia personal percibida son los que presentan menores niveles de ansiedad ante la muerte. Se destaca la importancia de fomentar la competencia personal a través de una formación específica sobre la muerte, los cuidados paliativos y las prácticas específicas de enfermería para reducir el impacto negativo que la ansiedad ante la muerte puede ejercer en la praxis futura del personal de enfermería que ha de tratar con el dolor, el sufrimiento y la muerte.

The aim of this study was to examine the concurrent and divergent validity of the Spanish form of Templer’s Death Anxiety Scale. A sample of 328 Spanish students responded anonymously to a questionnaire which, in addition to the Death Anxiety Scale, included the Spanish forms of two death anxiety scales and two scales of general anxiety. Although the correlations with measures of death anxiety were notably higher than those with measures of general anxiety, there were positive and significant correlations between scores on the Death Anxiety Scale and on all the other scales, denoting the concurrent and divergent validity of the Spanish form of the Death Anxiety Scale.

El incremento en la inmigración observado en España en los últimos años ha abierto un debate sobre la relación entre el proceso migratorio y el desarrollo de ciertos problemas psicopatológicos. Estudios realizados en Europa y Estados Unidos han mostrado resultados contradictorios; no queda claro si existe una relación directa entre la inmigración y la psicopatología. Cada vez se cuestiona más la existencia de este tipo de relación, aunque se reconoce que el proceso migratorio, la cultura y la pertenencia a un grupo minoritario influyen sobre la salud mental. El estrés relacionado con la inmigración, las diferencias culturales y la discriminación percibida son considerados factores de riesgo. Este artículo examina las relaciones entre psicopatología e inmigración, incidiendo, especialmente, sobre el concepto de “estrés aculturativo” y sus factores moderadores. Palabras clave: Estrés aculturativo. Inmigración. Salud mental

This study examined the dimensional structure of Templer, et al.’s Death Depression Scale-Revised and Abdel-Khalck’s Death Obsession Scale. The responses of 353 Spanish undergraduates, 261 women and 92 men (M age = 19 yr., SD = 3.1), to the Spanish forms of both scales were evaluated by means of a principal axis factoring with oblimin rotation. Three significant factors were identified: (1) Death Sadness, (2) Death Obsession, and (3) Death Anergia and Anhedonia. The distribution of the factor loadings for the items of both scales supported discriminant validity and capacity to evaluate aspects of human reactions to d

This study examined the dimensional structure of Templer’s Death Anxiety Scale and Abdel-Khalek’s Death Obsession Scale. The responses of 289 Spanish students to the Spanish forms of both scales were evaluated by means of a principal components analysis with varimax rotation. Three significant factors were identified: Death Obsession, Cognitive-Affective, and Death Anxiety. The distribution of the factor loadings for the items of both scales on Factors 1 and 3 supported the discriminant validity of the constructs specific to each of the scales, while Factor 2 showed a common component in both scales characterized by cognitive and affective aspects in relation to the idea of death.

Background. Over the last 40 years the study of human attitudes toward death has attracted much scientific interest and a significant amount of research has been carried out in the English-speaking world. However, among Spanish-speaking researchers the subject has been practically ignored, as has the issue of related psychometric instruments. The aim of this study was to develop the Death Anxiety Inventory (DAI) and thus provide a valid and reliable assessment instrument for measuring death anxiety among Spanish-speaking subjects. Methods: This study examined the psychometric properties of the DAI. The DAI is a self-administered questionnaire of 20 items that can be used in either a dichotomous true/false format or on a six-point Likert scale. The properties of both scales were investigated by means of six empirical studies and several samples. Results: The scale has an α coefficient of internal consistency of 0.90 and test-retest correlation, at 4 weeks, of 0.94. The correlation with Templer’s Death Anxiety Scale was 0.79. Factor analysis of the DAI identified five significant factors. Taken together these factors explained 54.60% of the total variance and were labeled as: (1) Externally generated death anxiety, (2) Meaning and acceptance of death, (3) Thoughts about death, (4) Life after death, and (5) Brevity of life. The English form of the DAI is also presented in the study in order to enable cross-cultural comparisons to be made. Conclusion: Results of this study suggest that the DAI has adequate psychometric properties that make it a valid and reliable instrument to assess death anxiety in Spanish-speaking individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

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.

The twofold objectives of the present study were (a) to examine sex-related differences on the Arabic Scale of Death Anxiety (ASDA) in seven Arabic and Western countries, and (b) to compare the mean ASDA scores among Arabic samples (Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, and Syria) with Western samples (Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States). A total sample of 2978 volunteer undergraduates participated in this study. They resided in their countries of origin and responded to the scale in their respective native-speaking languages. Sex-related differences on the ASDA were statistically significant in all countries (except the United Kingdom), with women having higher mean scores than their male peers. It was found that all the Arab samples, except the Lebanese men, had significantly higher mean ASDA scores than their Western counterparts. These differences might be explained either in the light of higher emotionally responsiveness of the Arab samples, differences in individualism and collectivism and in secularism in the countries, and the lower per capita income in the Arab countries except in Kuwait.

The aims were to estimate the psychometric properties of the Spanish form of the Death Depression Scale and to compare these with those of other versions of the scale. The Death Depression Scale was administered to a sample of 218 Spanish student nurses, together with Templer’s Death Anxiety Scale and measures of general depression and anxiety. The Cronbach coefficient a was 83, and a 4-wk. test-retest correlation was .87. The correlations with scores on other tests were similar to those obtained in former studies. After applying a principal components factor analysis with varimax rotation, four factors with eigenvalues greater than one were identified. These factors were labeled Death Sadness, Death Finality, Meaninglessness of Life, and Feeling of Loss. Generally speaking, the results favour consideration of the Death Depression Scale as a valid and reliable means of assessment among Spanish-speaking individuals.

BACKGROUND: The study of human attitudes toward death has given rise to a substantial body of empirical research. Psychometric instruments have been developed to measure fear of death, or death anxiety, and its psychological consequences in people who continually come into contact with stimuli related to mortality. OBJECTIVES: To analyze the 20-item Death Anxiety Inventory (DAI) within the framework of item response theory (IRT) and using the generalized partial credit model. METHODS: The sample comprised 154 men and 550 women and was drawn from nurses, doctors, industrial workers, teachers, undergraduates, and retired persons. Subjects completed the DAI, a self-administered, Likert-type questionnaire of 20 items, each with six response options. RESULTS: The DAI showed a relatively adequate fit to the generalized partial credit model. Thus, 4 of the 20 items presented a poor fit to the model. The analysis of item information and test information functions revealed that the 20-item test was appropriate for differentiating subjects with medium or high levels of death anxiety. The test information function was higher in this range of scores, indicating greater precision in the estimate of death anxiety for these subjects. DISCUSSION: The generalized partial credit model can be used to obtain detailed information about a clinical test and its items, and there are advantages to this approach when working with polytomous tests.