2020 Volume 23 Issue 1 Pages 4-12
Objective: This study aimed to develop a scale to evaluate coordination practice provided by public health nurses (PHNs) in community general support centers for elderly people with dementia.
Method: Preparation of a draft scale allowed for the selection of 57 items extracted from semi-structured interviews with PHNs in community general support centers; these items were investigated for surface and content, validity by administrators who work with elderly people with dementia, PHNs in community general support centers, and experts on coordination practices. A scale with demonstrated reliability and validity was administered to measure results of a self-administered questionnaire provided to 499PHNs in 414_community general support centers.
Results: The number of subjects surveyed were 372PHNs, with valid date obtained from 314PHNs (valid response rate: 62.9%). Three factors comprising 25 items were selected from 32 items based on the results of item analysis, and exploratory factor analysis. The three subscales were named as follows: Assessing the impact of cognitive symptoms on one’s life; Creating a resource to support elderly people with dementia in the community; and Connecting elderly people with dementia to institutions of medical and nursing care. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the draft scale was 0.90-0.957 and correlation coefficients of the test-retest were 0.818-0.869. Validity assessment was conducted for criterion-related validity for the three subscales. Confirmatory factor analysis was in the acceptable range.
Conclusion: Results confirmed that this scale possesses a certain degree of reliability and validity.
