Development and validation of a COPD self-management scale

Although self-management reportedly can improve the health and quality of life of patients with COPD, there is no validated instrument for evaluating the status of the self-management of patients with COPD.

A 51-item COPD Self-Management Scale (CSMS), including 5 domains (symptom management, daily life management, emotion management, information management, and self-efficacy), was developed and validated, using data from 413 COPD subjects.

The CSMS showed good reliability and validity in the validation study. The test-retest correlation coefficient and Cronbach alpha coefficient of the CSMS were 0.87 and 0.92, respectively. The content validity index of the CSMS was 0.90. The correlations of the CSMS with the established COPD Self-Efficacy Scale, Chronic Disease Self-Management Behavior Scale, and Chronic Disease Self-Efficacy Scale were 0.71, 0.61, and 0.66, respectively. The self-efficacy domain in the CSMS was highly correlated with the total score of the COPD Self-Efficacy Scale (correlation coefficient = 0.82) and the Chronic Disease Self-Efficacy Scale (correlation coefficient = 0.76). Moreover, the total score of the CSMS was negatively correlated with percent-of-predicted FEV1 (FEV1%), with a correlation coefficient of -0.55. The CSMS symptom management domain and daily life management domain had relatively high correlation coefficients (-0.57 and -0.64, respectively) with FEV1%, indicating good criterion validity of the scale.

The CSMS is reliable, valid, and sensitive for evaluating the self-management status of COPD patients. To our knowledge, it is the first dedicated scale for evaluating the self-management status of COPD patients, and will serve as an important instrument for assessing and improving the self-management of COPD patients, particularly, those in the Hunan region of China.