BACKGROUND: The Frommelt Attitudes Toward Care of the Dying (FATCOD) is widely used as a measure of attitudes toward care of dying patients. However, poor factor structure and item redundancy have been reported across the literature.

OBJECTIVE: A short version of the questionnaire is needed, to facilitate effective assessments of the attitudes of those caring for dying patients. The purpose of this study was to develop a FATCOD-Short Form and to secure its psychometric properties.

INTERVENTIONS/METHODS: Data gathered from 1000 nurses in previous studies were pooled and reanalyzed. Principal components analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were utilized to assess the factor structure of the FATCOD-30. A Rasch model was used to evaluate the measurement functioning of the scale.

RESULTS: Of the original 30 items, 9 items of FATCOD were chosen for retention in the short form based on the principal components analysis, floor or ceiling effects, interitem correlations, and item-total correlation. All 9 items had good internal reliability. Both confirmatory factor analysis and Rasch analysis supported the unidimensionality of the FATCOD-Short Form.

CONCLUSIONS: The 9-item FATCOD-Short Form demonstrates evidence of acceptable validity and reliability to identify nurses' attitudes toward caring for dying persons because of its brevity and comprehensive content.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: When changing curricula in nursing education or implementing new procedures in nursing practice, it is important to have valid instruments to evaluate the results of the change. Such instruments should not be too lengthy or complicated. FATCOD-Short Form is a brief and valid instrument that can be easily used.