title: Demoralization Scale in Spanish-Speaking Palliative Care Patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Among the approaches to the demoralization syndrome, the one proposed by Kissane et al. is prevalent in the literature. These authors developed the Demoralization Scale (DS) to assess emotional distress, conceived as demoralization.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To present the Spanish adaptation of the Demoralization Scale in palliative care patients, with a new and more comprehensive approach to its factorial structure.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was carried out in 226 Spanish palliative care patients in three different settings: hospital, home care unit, and continued care unit. Outcome measures included the DS and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Analyses comprised confirmatory factor analyses to test the original, German, and Irish structure of the DS, exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM), estimations of internal consistency, and multivariate analyses of variance for criterion-related validity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The confirmatory factor analyses showed inappropriate fit for the previous structures when studied in the Spanish version of the DS. With ESEM, the best fitting structure was the five-factor solution, without item 18. Reliability results offered good estimations of internal consistency for all the dimensions except for sense of failure. Cronbach alpha coefficients were appropriate for the dimensions of loss of meaning (0.86), helplessness (0.79), disheartenment (0.88), and dysphoria (0.80), but low reliability was found for sense of failure (0.62). Convergent and discriminant validity showed positive correlations between demoralization, anxiety, and depression. Patients with higher levels of anxiety had higher scores on every dimension of demoralization, and those with higher levels of depression had higher scores on loss of meaning, disheartenment, and sense of failure, but not on dysphoria or helplessness.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Spanish adaptation of the DS has shown appropriate psychometric properties. It has been useful to differentiate between depression and the demoralization syndrome, pointing to helplessness and dysphoria as unique characteristics of demoralized palliative care patients.
authors.affiliation: Hospital General Universitario, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rudilla
authors.affiliation: Department of Methodology for the Behavioral Sciences, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Galiana
authors.affiliation: Department of Methodology for the Behavioral Sciences, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain. Electronic address: amparo@volyaproductions.com.
authors.forename: Amparo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oliver
authors.affiliation: Department of Personality, Assessment, and Treatment, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: Pilar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Barreto
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis; D005060:Europe; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology*; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis; D014175:Translating; D014177:Translations
keywords: Demoralization; confirmatory factor analyses; depression; exploratory structural equation models