Abstract
The purpose of this study was to develop the Scale for Biography Recasting in Middle-aged Working Men on Chronic Dialysis. Biography recasting of chronic dialysis patients refers to redirection of future plans following the major life change. The chronic dialysis patients need to deal with chronic nature of their illness and its treatment as well as to cope with social and psychological effects of these. Biography recasting is necessary, therefore, for them to reconstruct fulfilling life.
Corbin & Strauss's concept of illness trajectory was drawn upon in the scale construction. In Study 1, twelve dialysis patients were interviewed in order to select items to be included in the scale. The content validity of the scale was then examined by using another group of subjects. In Study 2, the reliability and the face validity of the scale were tested. Study 3 tested the reliability and the construct validity. Five factors of the scale emerged in the factor analysis with varimax rotation. Cronbach's alpha coefficient obtained for the five subscales and the scale as a whole ranged from.73 to.83, indicating a good reliability of the scale. The factor structure of the scale seems generally to agree with Corbin and Strauss's conceptualization of illness trajectory, and hence the scale appears to have a good construct validity.
The scale provides a useful tool for men undergoing chronic dialysis to understand how they are going about in readjusting their lives after the major life change.
The further refinement of the scale is, however, necessary.
