The Near-Death Experience Content (NDE-C) scale: Development and psychometric validation
📄 Original study ↗Plain English Summary
For nearly four decades, researchers studying near-death experiences (NDEs -- those profound experiences some people report after brushing with death) relied on a single questionnaire from 1983. Charlotte Martial and colleagues decided it was time for an upgrade. Across three studies with 564 French-speaking participants, they built and tested a brand-new 20-item measurement tool called the NDE-C scale. The old scale had structural problems; the new one captures five distinct dimensions of NDEs: feeling beyond the usual, harmony, insight, a sense of reaching a border, and passing through a gateway. That last pair -- Border and Gateway -- turned out to be the secret sauce for distinguishing genuine NDEs from experiences triggered by drugs, meditation, or trance. The scale scored strong on reliability and validity, and the team proposed a specific cutoff score for researchers to use. This is a big deal for the field -- better measurement means better science going forward.
Research Notes
First major update to NDE measurement since Greyson (1983). Introduces items for distressing NDEs, gateway, dying, and ineffability. The 5-factor structure supports NDE multidimensionality. Critical methodological paper for the NDE controversy (#7) — any future NDE study using this scale connects back here.
Interest in near-death experiences (NDEs) has grown rapidly but the standard measurement tool — Greyson's (1983) NDE scale — shows several psychometric weaknesses. Across three studies with 564 French-speaking participants, a new 20-item Near-Death Experience Content (NDE-C) scale was developed and validated. Study 1 (N=403) identified structural weaknesses in the Greyson scale's factor structure. Study 2 (N=161) established the NDE-C scale's 5-factor structure (Beyond the Usual, Harmony, Insight, Border, Gateway) with Cronbach's α=0.85 and concurrent validity correlations above 0.76. Study 3 showed the scale discriminates NDEs from drug-induced, meditation, and trance experiences, with Border and Gateway factors being most distinctive. A cut-off score of ≥27/80 is proposed for research use.
Links
Related Papers
Extends
Cites
Same Research Program
Companion
- Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms Following Near-Death Experiences — Greyson, Bruce (2001)
- Near-Death Experiences with Reports of Meeting Deceased People — Kelly, Emily Williams (2001)
- AWAreness during REsuscitation - II: A Multi-Center Study of Consciousness and Awareness in Cardiac Arrest — Parnia, Sam (2023)
- Near-Death and Out-of-Body Experiences in the Blind: A Study of Apparent Eyeless Vision — Ring, Kenneth (1997)
Also by these authors
More in Nde
The Central Clinical Relevance of Near-Death Experiences in Acute Care Contexts
Explanation of Near-Death Experiences: A Systematic Analysis of Case Reports and Qualitative Research
Neuro-Functional Modeling of Near-Death Experiences in Contexts of Altered States of Consciousness
Which Near-Death Experience Features Are Associated with Reduced Fear of Death?
Advancing the Evidence for Survival of Consciousness
📋 Cite this paper
Martial, Charlotte, Simon, Jessica, Puttaert, Ninon, Gosseries, Olivia, Charland-Verville, Vanessa, Nyssen, Anne-Sophie, Greyson, Bruce, Laureys, Steven, Cassol, Héléna (2020). The Near-Death Experience Content (NDE-C) scale: Development and psychometric validation. Consciousness and Cognition. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2020.103049
@article{martial_2020_nde_c_scale,
title = {The Near-Death Experience Content (NDE-C) scale: Development and psychometric validation},
author = {Martial, Charlotte and Simon, Jessica and Puttaert, Ninon and Gosseries, Olivia and Charland-Verville, Vanessa and Nyssen, Anne-Sophie and Greyson, Bruce and Laureys, Steven and Cassol, Héléna},
year = {2020},
journal = {Consciousness and Cognition},
doi = {10.1016/j.concog.2020.103049},
}