The development and validation of the Death Anxiety Beliefs and Behaviours Scale

Abstract

Objectives: Research spanning the fields of clinical, social and health psychology suggests that death anxiety is an important construct. However, no comprehensive, psychometrically adequate measure of the construct exists. The current studies outline the development of a new measure of death anxiety, the Death Anxiety Beliefs and Behaviours Scale (DABBS), which is the first measure to specifically assess unhelpful beliefs and behaviours that may underlie fears of death. Methods: In Study 1, items were piloted in a large community sample (N = 505). In Studies 2A and 2B, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed using a treatment-seeking (N = 200) and non-treatment-seeking sample (N = 200). These analyses resulted in the final 18item scale. Results: The DABBS demonstrated good construct validity, criterion validity, internal consistency and test-retest reliability. In Study 3, the DABBS effectively distinguished participants with clinically significant death anxiety and distress from those without, demonstrating excellent discriminant validity. Conclusions: The present data indicate that the DABBS is a valid and reliable measure of affect, beliefs and behaviours relating to death anxiety, in a community sample of adults and among those seeking mental health treatment. Given

Development and validation of the CARE‐FCR: A caregiver‐specific measure of fear of cancer recurrence and progression

“…A series of four‐point Likert Scales, measure agreement with statements about death ranging from 1 (‘ strongly disagree’ ) to 5 (‘ strongly agree ’), frequency of death‐related thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes from 1 (‘ never have the thought ’) to 5 (‘ always have the thought’ ), and activities people may avoid, from 1 (‘ never avoid ’) to 5 (‘ always avoid ’). A cut‐off score of ≥55 is considered clinical death anxiety 32 …”

“…Spearman correlations were calculated between CARE‐FCR scores and, the FCRI‐c 26 and FoP‐Q‐SF/P, 29 depression, and anxiety, measured using the DASS‐21, 31 death anxiety, using the DABBS, 32 MCQ‐30, 33 specifically negative beliefs, uncontrollability of worry and need for control worry types. To assess divergent validity, we examined correlations between the CARE‐FCR and the BFPTSQ (extraversion dimension), 34 anticipating no relationship.…”

“…Given the importance of the fear of losing one's family member theme 12,17 the 18-item measure which examines beliefs about death, affect and associated avoidance behaviours was included. 32 A series of four-point Likert Scales, measure agreement with statements about death ranging from 1 ('strongly disagree') to 5 ('strongly agree'), frequency of death-related thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes from 1 ('never have the thought') to 5 ('always have the thought'), and activities people may avoid, from 1 ('never avoid') to 5 ('always avoid'). A cut-off score of ≥55 is considered clinical death anxiety.…”

“…A cut-off score of ≥55 is considered clinical death anxiety. 32 3.1.7 | The Metacognitions Questionnaire-30 (MCQ-30)…”

The development and validation of the Worries About Recurrence or Progression Scale (WARPS)

“…Participants were administered demographic questionnaires and 57 pilot items of the WARPS. All participants were asked to complete the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales‐21 (DASS‐21) (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995), the 12‐Item Short Form Health Survey (SF‐12) (Ware Jr. et al., 1996), the Anxiety Sensitivity Index‐3 (ASI) (Taylor et al., 2007), the Ambiguous Cues Task (Pincus et al., 1994), the Death Anxiety Beliefs and Behaviours Scale (DABBS) (Menzies et al., 2022) and the Treatment Adherence Perception Questionnaire (TAPQ) (Sanford & Rivers, 2020). Following this, participants completed a measure of fear which was specific to their illness‐specific fears.…”