Background: Death anxiety is regarded as a risk and maintaining factor of psychopathology. While the Arabic Scale of Death Anxiety (ASDA) is a brief, commonly used assessment, such a tool is lacking in Chinese clinical practice.
Aim: The current study was conducted to develop a Chinese version of the ASDA, i.e., the ASDA(C), using a multistage back-translation technique, and examine the psychometric properties of the scale.
Methods: A total of 1372 participants from hospitals and universities located in three geographic areas of China were recruited for this study. To calculate the criterion-related validity of the ASDA(C) compared to the Chinese version of the longer-form Multidimensional Orientation toward Dying and Death Inventory (MODDI-F/chin), 49 undergraduates were randomly assigned to complete both questionnaires. Of the total participants, 56 were randomly assigned to retake the ASDA(C) in order to estimate the one-week, test-retest reliability of the ASDA(C).
Results: The overall Cronbach's alpha was 0.91 for the whole scale. The one-week, test-retest reliability was 0.96. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) revealed three factors, "fear of dead people and tombs," "fear of lethal disease," and "fear of postmortem events," accounted for 57.09% of the total variance. Factor structure for the three-factor model was sound. The correlation between the total scores on the ASDA(C) and the MODDI-F/chin was 0.54, indicating acceptable concurrent validity.
Conclusions: ASDA(C) has adequate psychometrics and properties that make it a reliable and valid scale to assess death anxiety in Mandarin-speaking Chinese.
背景: 死亡焦虑被视为精神病理学症状的风险因素和 持续存在的因素。虽然阿拉伯死亡焦虑量表（ASDA） 是一种简单而常用的评估工具，但是在国内临床实践 中缺少这样的工具。.
目标: 本研究旨在采用多级回译法开发ASDA 中文版， 即ASDA(C)，并研究该量表的心理测量学特性。.
结果: 量表总的Cronbach’sα 值为0.91。一周后的重测 信度为0.96。探索性因子分析（EFA）显示三个因素，“ 对 死人和坟墓的恐惧，“ 对致命疾病的恐惧” 和“ 对死亡 事件的恐惧”，占总方差的57.09%。因而构建三因素 模型。量表ASDA(C) 总分与MODDI-F/chin 的相关系数 是0.54，表示信度都可以接受。.
结论: ASDA(C) 有较好的心理测量学特性，说明这是 一个可靠有效的量表。该量表能用于讲普通话的中国 人群，来评估死亡焦虑。.
关键词: 阿拉伯死亡焦虑量表；中文版；心理测量 学特性.
Keywords: Arabic Scale of Death Anxiety; Chinese version; psychometric properties.