Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Internet Skills Scale in a Chinese older adult population

Abstract

This study translated and back-translated the English version of the Internet Skills Scale (ISS) based on the Brislin translation model to develop a Chinese version of the scale. From June to December 2024, 260 older adults were recruited from the community to participate in the survey to evaluate the scale's reliability and validity. A total of 233 valid questionnaires were collected, yielding an effective response rate of 89.6%. Among the respondents, there were 121 males (52%) and 112 females (48%), with ages ranging from 60 to 90 years. The results showed that the Chinese version of the ISS consisted of four dimensions and 20 items. The Cronbach's α coefficient for the total scale was 0.862, and the Cronbach's α coefficients for the dimensions ranged from 0.705 to 0.912. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) extracted four common factors, with a cumulative variance contribution rate of 68.533%. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) indicated a good model fit: χ²/df = 2.26, CFI = 0.978, IFI = 0.979, TLI = 0.974, GFI = 0.991, RMSEA = 0.074. For convergent validity, the composite reliability (CR) values were 0.932, 0.853, 0.795, and 0.88, respectively, and the average variance extracted (AVE) values were 0.734, 0.596, 0.511, and 0.616, respectively. These findings indicate that the scale demonstrates reliability and validity, making it an effective tool for assessing the digital competence of older adults.