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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the Self-care Ability Scale for the Elderly

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Aims and objectives To translate the Self-care Ability Scale for the Elderly into Simplified Chinese and to test the Chinese version of the scale regarding its reliability and validity among older people. Background Self-care is an important topic in nursing. When assessing older people's self-care ability, it is essential that a reliable and valid instrument is used. Design This study employed across-sectional design. Methods We translated the English version of the Self-care Ability Scale for the Elderly into Simplified Chinese according to Brislin's translation guidelines and carried out a questionnaire survey among 610 older people, including both community-dwelling people and hospital patients, in Jinzhou City, People's Republic of China. Eighty participants completed the instrument twice for test–retest reliability. Data analyses were performed using spss 17.0 and Mplus, version 5, to assess reliability and validity. Results A Cronbach's alpha coefficient of .89 and statistically significant item-to-total correlations showed evidence of homogeneity. An intraclass correlation coefficient of .99 for the test–retest between total scores and intraclass correlation coefficients between .87–.99 for the test–retest scores of each item explained the almost perfect test–retest reliability noted in this study. Content validity was found to be good, and a three-factor model was obtained in an exploratory factor analysis (explaining a variance of 57%) and modified in a confirmatory factor analysis (χ2 = 261.559, df = 98, root mean square error of approximation = 0.074; standardised root mean square residual = 0.059), which reflected an acceptable construct validity. Conclusions This study shows that the Chinese version of the Self-care Ability Scale for the Elderly has sufficient psychometric properties for assessing self-care ability among older people in China. Relevance to clinical practice A reliable and valid instrument is available to assess the self-care ability of older Chinese people.