[Psychometric properties of the Death Anxiety Scale in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy].

OBJECTIVE

Ischemic cardiomyopathy is a major public health concern in Spain. Death from ischemic disease accounts for approximately a third of all deaths due to cardiovascular disease, and imposes a serious burden on already overstretched public health system owing to the tendency to chronicity. This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of Templer's Death Anxiety Scale (DAS) in a sample of patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy (acute myocardial infarction and angina pectoris).

METHODS

This study applied the Spanish version of Templer's Death Anxiety Scale (DAS). The sample consisted of 141 patients (61% men) with ischemic cardiomyopathy, mean agede 71.57 years (SD=5.76). A descriptive statistical analysis was performed, and factorial analysis of the principal components.

RESULTS

The corrected element-total correlation was positive in all items, with values ranging from 0.32 and 0.54. Four factors jointly explained 51.85% of the data variance. The reliability coefficients were high in all of the variables analysed, with a total Cronbach Alpha of 0.77.

CONCLUSIONS

The results obtained in this study revealed ischemic cardiomyopathy was susceptible to the process of death anxiety. This underscores the need for educating patients with this pathology to help them adapt to the process of chronicity, and to develop an understanding of the naturalization process of dying bearing in mind each person's multidimensionality.