Development of a spiritual self-care practice scale

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Psychology
• Public Health

Background:

• Heart failure (HF) management requires comprehensive patient care.
• Spiritual self-care is a crucial, yet often overlooked, aspect of managing chronic illnesses like HF.
• Existing instruments may not adequately capture the nuances of spiritual self-care in diverse populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a reliable instrument to measure spiritual self-care practices.
• To assess the spiritual self-care practices of African American patients diagnosed with heart failure.
• To establish the psychometric properties of the Spiritual Self-Care Practices Scale (SSCPS).

Main Methods:

• The study involved 142 African American patients with heart failure.
• Content validity was assessed by spiritual advisors from various religious groups.
• Construct validity was determined through principal components factor analysis.
• Reliability was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha coefficients.

Main Results:

• Spiritual advisors provided feedback to enhance content validity.
• Factor analysis identified four key dimensions of spiritual practices: personal, physical, interpersonal, and general spiritual practices.
• The Spiritual Self-Care Practices Scale (SSCPS) demonstrated a moderate reliability with an alpha coefficient of 0.64.

Conclusions:

• The Spiritual Self-Care Practices Scale (SSCPS) is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing spiritual self-care in African American heart failure patients.
• Further research is recommended to validate the SSCPS in other chronic illness patient populations.
• Findings support the integration of spiritual self-care assessment in managing heart failure.