A scale development study: Hemodialysis comfort scale version II

Area of Science:

• Nephrology
• Nursing
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Existing Hemodialysis Comfort Scale (HDCS) has limitations in item count and dimensions for comprehensive patient comfort assessment.
• The need for a more robust tool to evaluate the multifaceted nature of comfort in hemodialysis patients is evident.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate the Hemodialysis Comfort Scale Version II (HDCS-II) as a reliable instrument for measuring patient comfort during hemodialysis.
• To address the limitations of the original HDCS by creating a more comprehensive scale.

Main Methods:

• Methodological research involving 436 chronic hemodialysis patients.
• Development of an 87-item pool based on comfort theory, literature review, and revision of existing scale items.
• Expert review, content validity index, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis for validity.
• Item analysis, Cronbach's alpha, parallel form reliability for reliability.

Main Results:

• The developed scale, HDCS-II, comprises 26 items across six dimensions: physical relief, physical ease, psychospiritual ease, psychospiritual transcendence, environmental transcendence, and sociocultural ease.
• High internal consistency was found, with an overall Cronbach's alpha of 0.79 and specific values for each dimension ranging from 0.61 to 0.87.
• Expert reviews confirmed the relevance of the scale items.

Conclusions:

• The Hemodialysis Comfort Scale Version II (HDCS-II) is a valid and reliable 26-item, 6-factor, 5-point Likert scale.
• HDCS-II provides a comprehensive and psychometrically sound tool for assessing the comfort of patients undergoing hemodialysis treatment.