Parent Readiness for Hospital Discharge Scale: Psychometrics and Association With Postdischarge Outcomes

Area of Science:

• Pediatric healthcare
• Nursing research
• Health outcomes

Background:

• Parental readiness for discharge is crucial for successful pediatric healthcare transitions.
• Assessing parental preparedness can mitigate post-discharge challenges and reduce readmissions.
• Existing tools may require validation for specific populations, such as parents of hospitalized children.

Purpose of the Study:

• To validate the Readiness for Hospital Discharge Scale (RHDS) for parents of hospitalized children, creating the Pediatric Readiness for Hospital Discharge Scale (PedRHDS).
• To establish the psychometric properties and reliability of the PedRHDS and its short forms.
• To assess the association of the PedRHDS with post-discharge outcomes.

Main Methods:

• Psychometric testing and item reduction using principal component analysis on data from 417 parents across four studies.
• Reliability estimation using Cronbach's alpha.
• Predictive validity assessed through regression analysis, examining associations with post-discharge coping and readmission.

Main Results:

• A 23-item PedRHDS maintained its intended factor structure.
• Reliability coefficients for the PedRHDS (23-item, 10-item, and 8-item forms) ranged from 0.73 to 0.85.
• The PedRHDS demonstrated significant associations with reduced post-discharge coping difficulty (12%-16% variance) and lower odds of readmission (OR=0.71-0.80).

Conclusions:

• The PedRHDS and its short forms (PedRHDS-SF10, PedRHDS-SF8) are reliable and valid measures.
• These scales can serve as valuable outcome metrics for hospital care quality.
• The PedRHDS functions as an effective risk indicator for identifying children at risk of post-discharge coping issues and readmission.