Reliability and Validity of the Persian Version of Templer Death Anxiety Scale-Extended in Veterans of Iran–Iraq Warfare

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine the validity and reliability of the Persian version of Templer Death Anxiety Scale-Extended (DAS-E) in veterans of Iran-Iraq Warfare. METHODS In this cross-sectional study, 211 male veterans of Iran-Iraq Warfare completed the 51 item DAS-E. Principal components analysis with varimax rotation was used to assess domain structure of the DAS-E. Internal consistency reliability was assessed with Cronbach's alpha. Test-retest reliability was assessed with intra-class correlation coefficients for absolute agreement for the individual items and domains. RESULTS The construct validity of the scale was obtained using exploratory factor analysis that showed four factors with Eigen values of greater than 1 (1, 11 items, α = 0.83; 2, 7 items; α = 0.87; 3, 5 items, α = 0.73; and 4, 4 items, α = 0.75). Test-retest and internal consistency (total alpha) was 0.91 and 0.89, respectively. CONCLUSION The DAS-E demonstrated suitable validity and reliability among the veterans under study. The factor analysis demonstrated that the DAS-E has a multi-dimensional structure. With consideration of the proper psychometric characteristics, this scale can be used to further research about death anxiety in this population.