Two samples of Hong Kong college students completed the English and the Chinese version of the Multidimensional Orientation Toward Dying and Death Inventory (MODDI-F), respectively. Results show substantially lower coefficients of internal consistency in the English version when compared with its Chinese counterpart. The construct validity of the instrument, i.e., the statistical relationships between its subtests, was confirmed. Whenever available, the use of a questionnaire that is worded in the participants' mother tongue is recommended.
[Copyright of Psychological Reports is the property of Ammons Scientific Ltd. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.2466/03.07.12.PR0.110.3.1026-1028]

This article reports the validation of the Chinese version of an expanded 31-item Euthanasia Attitude Scale. A 4-stage validation process included a pilot survey of 119 college students and a randomized household survey with 618 adults in Hong Kong. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed a 4-factor structure of the scale, which can therefore be used to examine attitudes toward general, active, passive, and non-voluntary euthanasia. The scale considers the role effect in decision-making about euthanasia requests and facilitates cross-cultural comparison of attitudes toward euthanasia. The new Chinese scale is more robust than its Western predecessors conceptually and measurement-wise.
[Copyright of Death Studies is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2011.623214]

In this mixed methods study, the authors explored differences and similarities in beliefs about death and dying as well as end-of-life care preferences among social work students in Hong Kong and the United States. A convenience sample of 176 social work students from Hong Kong and 58 from the United States was recruited to complete a quantitative questionnaire with three open-ended questions. Findings revealed differences as well as similarities in beliefs about death and dying and that a larger proportion of Hong Kong students as compared to U.S. students preferred curative rather than palliative care. Implications for social work education and hospice practice in both countries include the need for social work student and practitioner self-awareness in order to prepare for culturally competent practice and policies that are relevant across cultures.
[Copyright of Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15524256.2010.529021 ]

This study examines the factor structures of the Chinese version of the Multidimensional Orientation Toward Dying and Death Inventory (MODDI-F/chin), originally established in German language, in a sample of Hong Kong college students (n = 256). Both confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory factor analysis were performed to examine the factor structures of the MODDI-F/chin. The results showed that, identical to the German version, the MODDI-F/chin consisted of a 5-factor Fear domain and a 3-factor Acceptance domain. The fear of another person's dying was the weakest of the four factors in the Hong Kong sample but represented the first and strongest factor in the German sample of the original study. Although preliminary and not representative of mainland China, our results show that the factor structure of attitudes toward dying and death that had been established empirically with German people can be replicated with Chinese students of Hong Kong.
[Copyright of Death studies is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2010.502612]