Abstract

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, alpha = 0.83; 2, 7 items; alpha = 0.87; 3, 5 items, alpha = 0.73; and 4, 4 items, alpha = 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.