Two scales for measuring near-death experiences (NDEs) were evaluated. The original NDE scale showed several weaknesses. A new 20-item Near-Death Experience Content (NDE-C) scale was developed and validated, revealing a five-factor structure covering relevant dimensions. The NDE-C scale demonstrated very good internal consistency (Cronbach α = 0.85) and concurrent validity (correlations above 0.76). This new reliable scale should facilitate future research on NDEs.
Spiritual beliefs, Openness to experience, and Fantasy proneness are associated with recalling a near-death experience (NDE) or an NDE-like experience (similar phenomenology without a life-threatening context). In a retrospective study of 181 people divided into four groups—NDE experiencers, NDE-like experiencers, controls who faced a life-threatening situation without an NDE, and controls with neither—multivariate logistic regression showed that spiritual beliefs predicted NDE-like recall, while Openness and Fantasy proneness predicted NDE recall. A discriminant analysis using these variables correctly classified only 35% of cases, indicating other factors also play a role.