Comparative analysis of three instruments designed to measure self-care agency

A number of instruments are used to measure Orem's (1985) concept of self-care agency. Their use reflects basic assumptions that both the instrument and the underlying tenets of the theory are valid. The purpose of this study was to examine the latent traits associated with three instruments designed to measure self-care agency. These included Denyes' (1980) Self-Care Agency, Kearney and Fleischer's (1979) Exercise of Self-Care Agency, and Hanson and Bickel's (1985) Perception of Self-Care Agency. The convenience sample consisted of 513 adult, nonhospitalized subjects who completed the three instruments. Common factor analysis and canonical correlation were used to identify latent traits and their relationships. The findings support the multidimensionality of Orem's (1985) concept of self-care agency. However, the use of one instrument does not adequately reflect this multidimensionality.