Latvian version of the DAPR-R – translation and validation of a multidimensional measurement of attitudes toward death

To establish and promote death and dying studies (thanatology) as a transdisciplinary field of academic inquiry in Latvia, also contributing to broader comparative studies in this field, demands to develop the Methodology of thanatology studies in Latvian. The Death Attitude Profile- Revised (DAP-R) captures attitudes towards dying and death has been translated and tested in several countries. This study reports the translation of the Death Attitudes Profile-Revised (DAP-R) into Latvian (DAP-LVR) using a crosscultural adaption process methodology and its psychometric assessment. The DAP-R was translated following guidelines for crosscultural adaption through language triangulation (English, German, Russian). The data were gathered in 2020 via stratified randomized sampling of Latvian adult population (N=1012, aged 18 -75). The measure of the DAP-R consists of 32 items, which are assigned to 5 dimensions (Fear of Death, Death Avoidance, Neutral Acceptance, Approach Acceptance, Escape Acceptance). The internal consistency of the DAP-LVR Scales was assessed with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients. Split-half reliability was estimated using Spearman-Brown coefficients. Content validity was assessed by means of exploratory factor analysis (EFA). All statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 26. The items showed Internal consistency of the five subscales ranged from .653 (Neutral Acceptance) to .922 (Approach Acceptance). Split-half reliability was good, with a Spearman-Brown-coefficient of .834. The results of EFA slightly diverged from the original scale. Our results suggest overall good reliability of the Latvian version of the DAP-R. The DAP-LVR promises to be a robust instrument to establish normative data on death attitudes for use in Latvia.