The purpose of the present study was to develop the Descriptive Death
Scale (DDS), a brief, descriptive and multidimensional measure that assesses
individual perceptions of single death experiences. The DDS has the potential
to expand how death experiences are understood in the literature because it can
serve as a tool for grievers to quantitatively contextualize their single death
experiences instead of indicating only the mode of death. From a constructivist
perspective, the adjectives included in the DDS are parcels of meaning that
symbolically contextualize grievers’ subjective understanding. Drawing from
qualitative research, I compiled a broad list of 65 adjectives that grievers
and terminally ill patients have used to describe past and impending deaths. My
online recruitment process resulted in a sample of respondents (<i>N</i> = 572)
who identified primarily as White/European American,
cisgender female and heterosexual (83%, 85%, and 83%, respectively). Their ages
ranged from 18 to 80 (<i>M = </i>43.13, <i>SD =</i> 13.40). The results of the EFA
indicated a 5-factor structure; however, the CFA analysis/ESEM indicated that a
4-factor model better fit the data. The DDS subscales (i.e., Incomprehensible,
Warm, Withering, Ostracized) include a total of 27-items and scores on each subscale
displayed good internal consistency and convergent and discriminant validity.
The results from the regression analysis indicated that the Incomprehensible,
Warm and Withering death subscales contributed significantly and positively to
grief distress, beyond closeness to the deceased and age of the deceased. The
DDS assesses the nuanced and unique profiles of grievers’ perceptions of single
deaths. It can serve as an important and novel tool for researchers and
clinicians to capture grievers multidimensional and subjective understanding of
their death experiences. With single word items, it is brief, easy to use, and
versatile across domains.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/12746981 |
| Date | 04 August 2020 |
| Creators | Daniel Alan Shemwell (9187766) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/CONSTRUCTION_AND_INITIAL_VALIDATION_OF_THE_DESCRIPTIVE_DEATH_SCALE/12746981 |
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