Care Needs for Organ Transplant Recipients Scale: Development and psychometric testing

Needs assessment can determine how large the gap is between needs and available services; however, no tools are available to assess the unmet needs of renal transplant recipients.

The aim of this study was to develop the Care Needs for Organ Transplant Recipients Scale (CNOTRS) and examine its psychometric properties.

A cross-sectional design for instrument development and psychometric testing.

In total, 217 renal transplant recipients were recruited through convenience sampling.

An initial 36-item CNOTRS was developed after a comprehensive literature review. After the CNOTRS was tested through content validity and face validity, the factor structure was explored using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Convergent validity was examined using Pearson's correlation between the CNOTRS and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Known-group validity was tested by comparing CNOTRS scores of patients grouped based on whether they had experienced complications or rejection.

Twenty-eight items with three factors (namely daily care and social interaction needs, psychological needs, and health system and service needs) were identified in EFA by parallel analysis and Velicer's MAP test. The psychological needs domain had a stronger positive correlation with the HADS than the other two domains. The known-group validity was supported as a significant association between complications or rejection occurrence and unmet needs. The Cronbach's α of the CNOTRS was 0.94.

The CNOTRS demonstrated satisfactory reliability and validity to assess the care needs for renal transplant recipients and can assist health care professionals to tailor more personalised care for their individual needs.