A New Instrument to Assess Children’s Understanding of Death: Psychometrical Properties of the EsCoMu Scale in a Sample of Spanish Children

Abstract

The acquisition of the death concept in children may influence how these children cope with the losses that they will confront throughout their lives. At the present time, there is a lack of psychometric instruments in Spanish-speaking countries in order to evaluate the components of the death concept in children. The aim of this study was to create and validate a scale (EsCoMu-Escala sobre el Concepto de Muerte) in order to provide insight about the concept of death in children. The sample was formed by 358 children from ages 6 to 13 years. The final EsCoMu version has 27 items which serve to evaluate universality, irreversibility, non-functionality and causality. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis show an adequate fit index for the four dimensions model, reliability (α = 83) and validity evidence, specifically based on the children’s age. In conclusion, EsCoMu is an instrument that shows adequate reliability and validity indices in order to assess the concept of death and its four components among children. Due to its simplicity, this instrument can be very useful if applied to the field of neurodevelopmental disorders.

Understanding the Concepts of Death in Bereaved Teens with Intellectual Disabilities: An Examination of Measurement Tools

“…It was based on prior works, including Interview Schedules by Speece and Brent (1992), and a Structured Interview on Death Concepts (Viñas Poch et al, 2000). Examples of questions in the EsCoMu Scale include, “Can a dead person come back to life if you really want it?” and “Can a dead person move?” (Fernández-Alcántara et al, 2021, p.5).…”

“…Developed by Fernández-Alcántara and colleagues in 2021, the Escala sobre el Concepto de Muerte (EsCoMu) scale was designed to assess the understanding of the concepts of death in Spanish-speaking primary school children ages 6–13. The tool was used in a study of 358 students ages 6–13 (M = 9.92 years, SD = 1.57), not necessarily bereaved, in five schools in the Spanish provinces to provide an understanding of their development of the COD.…”

“…However, because the tool is scored on the sophistication and correctness of responses (Fernández-Alcántara et al, 2021), which may not be appropriate for the population of teens with ID, it was not included in this review. Instead, a recent tool rooted in the foundational literature that was developed to measure understanding of death and considered to have applicability in populations with neurodevelopmental disorders was included (Fernández-Alcántara et al, 2021). Refer to Table 1 for a summary of the tools selected for this review.…”

“…This questionnaire was utilized widely and adapted for subsequent work with children and their understanding of death (e.g., Lazar & Torney-Purta, 1991; Orbach et al, 1986; Slaughter & Griffiths, 2007). However, because the tool is scored on the sophistication and correctness of responses (Fernández-Alcántara et al, 2021), which may not be appropriate for the population of teens with ID, it was not included in this review. Instead, a recent tool rooted in the foundational literature that was developed to measure understanding of death and considered to have applicability in populations with neurodevelopmental disorders was included (Fernández-Alcántara et al, 2021).…”

Future Challenges in Research in Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders

“…On the other hand, Sewani and Kashef [ 8 ] show an innovative proposal with a study that allows us to approach the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders using a machine encoder based on the learning of neural networks. Finally, within the evaluation tools, a new approach is presented with the aim to develop children’s understanding of death, through the EsCoMu scale [ 9 ]. This instrument is an important contribution given the lack of research that addresses bereavement in the child.…”