Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Elderly Hypertension Self-Care Index

This study was done to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Elderly Hypertension Self-Care Index.

This was an exploratory mixed method study. Items were developed through conducting a qualitative study with conventional content analysis approach and comprehensively reviewing the existing literature. Then, the developed index was assessed for face, content, and construct validity as well as reliability.

Analyses identified four themes of self-care: intelligent acceptance, self-actualization in the pass of the disease, effective supporters, and destructive constraints. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that only 28 items were appropriate which were loaded on six factors, accounting for 45.035% of the total variance of hypertension self-care. Cronbach's alpha and test-retest intraclass correlation coefficients of the index were 0.80 and 0.96, respectively.

The Elderly Hypertension Self-Care Index showed that it is a valid and reliable index in the elderly health context; and can be used for self-care assessment among elderly people with hypertension.