The Effectiveness of an Online Self-Delivered Death Anxiety Intervention

The T-DAS consists of 15 items, describing the experiences that individuals feel when facing death. The Chinese version suggests a 5-point scale according to the later extended version of the scale, ranging from 1 "Strongly Agree" to 5 "Strongly Disagree", with higher scores representing more severe death anxiety. The higher the score, the more serious the death anxiety, and a total score greater than 43 according to the rules can be considered to have a high level of death anxiety. The Chinese version of T-DAS has been widely used and has shown good reliability and validity.

The DABBS consists of 18 entries describing overall feelings about death (4 entries), thoughts and beliefs related to death (7 entries), and avoidance behaviors related to death (7 entries), with the scale being scored on a 5-point scale ranging from 1, "Strongly Disagree/Never Have This Thought/Never Avoid This Behavior" to 5 "Strongly agree/always have this thought/always avoid this behavior," with higher scores representing the severity of the individual's adverse beliefs and behaviors regarding death.

Patient Health Questionnaire 9-item (PHQ-9), a self-report measure for depressive symptoms in the past two weeks, comprises 9 items rated from 0 (not at all) to 3 (nearly every day). The PHQ-9 has good psychometric properties in Chinese adolescents.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) scale is a 7-item self-report measure to assess anxiety symptoms in the past two weeks. Each item is rated from 0 (not at all) to 3 (nearly every day). The Chinese version GAD-7 score has good psychometric properties among adolescents.

The ISI consists of seven items that assess the severity of subjective insomnia in the past two weeks, including, for example, difficulty in falling asleep, sleep satisfaction, impairment of daytime functioning, etc. The total score ranges from 0-28, with higher scores representing more severe insomnia. The Chinese version of ISI has been shown to have good reliability and validity.

This is a 40-item scale for measuring multi-dimensional anxiety, which includes 4 dimensions (emotional, physiological, cognitive, and behavioral) and 9 subscales (emotional, psychosomatic, autonomic, general cognitive, phobia, over-committed, repetitive, social, and avoidance). The higher the score on this scale, the more severe the anxiety in a certain area.

The short version used in this study contains 18 entries, including six dimensions of positive relations, autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, purpose in life, and self-acceptance. The six dimensions of self-acceptance are scored on a 6-point scale ranging from 1 "not at all" to 6 "very much", with higher scores representing higher psychological well-being. The Chinese version of PWS has been translated by Taiwanese scholars and has been proven to have Good reliability and validity.

An adverse childhood experiences questionnaire measuring the adverse childhood experiences with 13 items. A higher number of adverse childhood experiences represents worse childhood experiences.

The 12-item Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (score from 1 to 7, and total score varies from 12 to 84). A higher score represents better social support.

This is a 9-item subscale measuring flight responses of the Post-traumatic responses scale, which is a 5-point Likert scale (score from 0 to 4, and total score varies from 0 to 36). A higher score represents a higher post-traumatic avoidance tendency.

A 17-item irritability measurement scale, the Peking irritability scale, measures impulsive emotions, thoughts, and behaviors on a 5-point Likert scale (score from 1 to 5, and total score varies from 17 to 85). A higher score represents higher irritability.

A 7-item 6-point Likert scale that measures the subjective feeling of being settled and fulfilled in one's current life. The higher the score on the scale, the stronger the sense of stability.

A 23-item Peking alexithymia scale measures thoughts and behaviors that prevent people from feeling or recognizing negative emotions on a 5-point Likert scale (1 to 5, and total scores vary from 23 to 115). A higher score represents more severe alexithymia.

An 18-item cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire measures the ability of emotion regulation on a 5-point Likert scale (1 to 5, and total scores vary from 18 to 90). A higher score represents better emotion regulation.