Validation of the Revised Collett–Lester Fear of Death Scale in a French Population

Abstract

Death and dying are processes that every human being encounters in his or her lifetime and perhaps the greatest loss an individual can suffer. In this sense, fear of death is regarded as a risk and maintaining factor of psychopathology. As such, effective and efficient measurement of this construct becomes a priority. While the Revised Collett-Lester Fear Of Death Scale (CL-FODS) is a brief, commonly used assessment, such a tool is lacking in French clinical practice. The present study aimed to adapt the revised CL-FODS in a general French sample and to determine its psychometric properties, namely its factorial structure, concurrent and convergent validity, and internal consistency. A sample of 590 participants responded to the French revised CL-FODS, as well as three instruments assessing death anxiety (DAS), neuroticism and spirituality (FACIT-Sp), to examine the internal consistency, validity and factorial structure of the scale. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis confirmed a four-factor model: (1) One’s Own Death,” (2) The Death of Others, (3) The Dying of Others, and (4) One’s Own Dying. Five items did not load on these four factors, suggesting that the revised CL-FODS might require further psychometric refinement. The revised CL-FODS showed good internal consistency. The scale was found to be significantly associated with the Death Anxiety Scale. When the appropriate psychometric characteristics are taken into account, this scale can be used in clinical and research settings to assess death concerns in French society.

The Role of Death-Anxiety-Induced Fear of COVID-19 in Compliance With and Acceptance of Government-Issued COVID-19 Regulations

“…The results were obtained after statistically controlling for several prominent covariates. Notably, controlling for the influences of perceived disease vulnerability ( Jungmann and Witthöft, 2020 ) and fear of losing loved ones ( Mertens et al, 2020 ; Cuniah et al, 2021 ) allowed us to examine and highlight the unique effects of death anxiety on our dependent variables. Nevertheless, it is important to note that all study results remained intact when the covariates were not statistically controlled for.…”

“…We measured fear of losing loved ones because (a) research has shown that fear of one’s own death should be distinguished from fear of losing significant others (see Cuniah et al, 2021 , for a recent publication) and (b) risk for loved ones has been found to be one of the strongest predictors of COVID-19-related fears ( Mertens et al, 2020 ). Thus, we used the eight-item subscale The Death of Others from The Collett-Lester’s Fear of Death Scale Version 3.0 ( Lester, 1990 ; Lester and Abdel-Khalek, 2003 ) to control for potential influences on our focal variables.…”

Psicoeducação sobre a morte com profissionais da saúde de um ambulatório de oncologia: estudo quase-experimental

“…A respeito da EMMCL, destaca-se que ela foi inicialmente elaborada no final dos anos 1960 nos Estados Unidos (Collett & Lester, 1969), é um instrumento multidimensional (Venegas et al, 2011) e com a vantagem de ter validação em diversos contextos culturais (Abdel-Khalek, 2002;Tomás-Sábado et al, 2007;Quintero & Simkin, 2017;Bužgová & Janíková, 2017;Oliveira Júnior et al, 2018;Quintero & Simkin, 2020;Mondragón-Sanchez et al, 2020;Cuniah et al, 2021). A maneira como a EMMCL foi desenvolvida concebe que o medo da morte pode apresentar várias causas possíveis, ou seja, é uma variável dependente sob influência de múltiplas variáveis independentes.…”

Validation of the Collett-Lester fear of death scale in occupational therapy students: psychometric testing and implications for palliative care education

“…Previous studies about fear of death showed gender differences, with women scoring higher on fear of death than men [ 15 ], and the most widely accepted explanation was that women have an easier time admitting and expressing their emotions and feelings related to death [ 16 ]. However, to date, these gender differences have not been clearly explained.…”

“…The original instrument contained 36-items, however it was revised to reduce it to 28-items in 2003. Conceptually it was designed to measure fear of death in four subscales: “Your Own Death”, “Your Own Dying”, “The Death of Others” and “The Dying of Others” [ 29 ] The questionnaire has also been validated in different languages such as Czech [ 30 ], French [ 15 ] or Arabic [ 31 ]. Although the CL-FODS has been adapted to Spanish in nursing students, to the best of our knowledge, no psychometric analysis has been carried out in Occupational Therapy students [ 32 ].…”