Perceptions of self-care in Sweden: a cross-cultural replication

This cross-cultural study attempted to replicate the nursing phenomena of self-care and self-concept using two self-reporting instruments. Both instruments were translated from English into Swedish and administered on a convenience basis to 187 Swedish subjects, 117 women and 70 men, ages 19-66, compulsory to university educated, and residing in the southern districts of Sweden. Swedish mean self-care scores were lower (112.5) than the United States normative group of university nursing and psychology students, but the mean was comparable to East German (113.6) reported from an earlier study. Self-concept scores were similar to Nebraska teachers and East Germans. Alpha coefficients were used to assess reliability, ANOVA for differences, and item correlation of self-care agency were organized by factor analysis with four subfactors identified. The derived subscales appeared to identify potentially useful factors to aid in unravelling the complexity of the self-care agency construct. Study limitations were addressed. Cross-cultural directives for international nursing are discussed.