Abstract
Objective：Scale items were examined for the development of a severity feeling scale in patients with chronic kidney disease.
Method：A 14-items initial scale of severity feeling was created and a preliminary survey was conducted. The 11-item severity feeling scale was then modified and the main survey was administered to 270 patients with chronic kidney disease. The reliability and validity of the scale were examined.
Results：Three items were deleted from the preliminary results. The response rate for this survey was 77.7％, and 178 valid responses were received. The alpha coefficient was .847, and the reliability coefficient by the retest method was .602. Two components were extracted by principal component analysis. The loadings of the first principal component ranged from .792 to .432, and the second principal component overlapped. In factor analysis, two factors were extracted and the factor loadings were .843 to .415 for the 7 items of the first factor and .794 to .314 for the 4 items of the second factor. The correlation coefficient between the sense of ill-being scale and the severity feeling scale was .697（p＜ .001）. Comparison of the severity feeling scale according to the chronic kidney disease severity showed a significant difference only between stages G1 and G5（p= .045）.
Conclusion：The 11-item severity feeling scale had two overlapping components extracted by principal component analysis and two factors extracted by factor analysis, and could be interpreted as a one-dimensional scale divided into items expressing perception of severity feeling as severe and items expressing perception of mild severity feeling. Also, the validity of this scale was supported by its correlation with sense of ill-being scale. Reliability was supported by internal consistency, and stability was acceptable.
