Objectives
Death anxiety (DA) is a predictor of exacerbation of both physical and psychological symptoms of chronic diseases. Therefore, having short and easy-to-apply instruments to assess the presence of DA and adopting a multidisciplinary approach to address it are important. This study analyzes the psychometric properties of the Death Anxiety Scale (DAS), originally developed by Donald Templer, in a Colombian population of adult patients diagnosed with a chronic disease.

Methods
The original instrument was linguistically, conceptually, and culturally adapted to Colombian Spanish to be subsequently administered to 301 adult patients with chronic diseases.

Results
The exploratory factor analysis revealed a three-factor structure, which explained 47% of variance. Internal consistency was demonstrated (Cronbach’s alpha: 0.71; McDonald’s omega: 0.76; Guttman’s lambda 6 [G6]: 0.74; greatest lower bound: 0.54). A correlation coefficient of 0.64 was found between the total score of the DAS and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI).

Conclusion
When comparing the results with the versions of the DAS in Spanish from Mexico and Spain, variability in the psychometric properties was observed. Language cannot therefore be assumed to be a guarantee of the reliability and validity of the instrument.