title: Validation of a new measure of the concept of good death among Taiwanese children.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to develop and validate an instrument to measure dimensions of the concept of a good death held by Taiwanese children. The sample consisted of 1,698 Taiwanese children, approximately 12-14 years of age. Participants completed the self-administered Good Death Concept Scale (GDCS), which consists of 30 statements describing potentially important contributors to a good death that had been identified in the relevant literature. Findings indicated that the GDCS is reliable and valid, as evidenced by the acceptable reliability, the consistent item-total correlations, the successful confirmatory factor analysis modeling, and the significant associations between the scale measuring concepts of a good death and 2 standardized scales (the Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale and the Death Attitude Profile-Revised). The results of this study suggest that GDCS measures 8 distinct domains, each reflecting a different aspect of good death: physical/biological, psychological, social, cognitive, altruistic, spiritual, affective, and rational.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Education, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC. shyang@mail.nsysu.edu.tw
authors.forename: Shu Ching
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Education, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Sih-Yi
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Lai
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology*; D001293:Attitude to Death / Q000208:ethnology*; D002648:Child; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012945:Social Values; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013624:Taiwan