{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,29]],"date-time":"2026-09-29T06:04:55Z","timestamp":1790661895192,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,29]],"date-time":"2026-09-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790640000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychiatry"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Death anxiety is a transdiagnostic construct of mental illness. The aim of this study was to explore the reliability and validity of the death anxiety scale (DAS) in the context of mental illnesses in a general hospital.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Patients with generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, major depressive disorder, obsessive\u2013compulsive disorder or somatic symptom disorder were included in the study. Internal consistency was explored using Cronbach\u2019s \u03b1. Construct validity was assessed by exploratory factor analysis (EFA), exploratory graph analysis (EGA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Scales such as the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17), the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA), the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), the Somatic Symptom Disorder-B Criteria Scale 12 (SSD-12), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) were used to assess the discriminant validity of the DAS.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A total of 585 patients are enrolled in the study. The Cronbach\u2019s \u03b1 coefficient for the total scale is 0.944. The EFA results in two-factor structures. However, CFA fit indices show poor model fit. The 2-factor model identified by EGA may offer a better fit (\u03c7\u00b2\/df=5.244, CFI\u00a0=\u00a00.956, TLI\u00a0=\u00a00.939, IFI\u00a0=\u00a00.956, NFI\u00a0=\u00a00.946, RMSEA\u00a0=\u00a00.102), comprising cognitive death anxiety and emotional death anxiety. Compared with the HAMD-17, HAMA, GAD-7, SSD-12, STAI, and TAS-20, the DAS has good discriminant validity.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The DAS has good reliability when applied to common mental illnesses in a general hospital. EGA seems to be the best fitting method for exploring the characteristics of death anxiety among patients with mental illnesses in a general hospital. Death anxiety can be categorized into emotional death anxiety and cognitive death anxiety. Although the model achieves an acceptable goodness of fit, it still has limitations, and the characteristics of death anxiety among patients need to be further explored.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2026.1881533","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,29]],"date-time":"2026-09-29T05:46:14Z","timestamp":1790660774000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Reliability and validity of the death anxiety scale in patients with mental illnesses in a general hospital"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Yanping","family":"Duan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychological Medicine, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College","place":["Beijing, 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