Development and Testing of the Hypertensive Nephropathy Self-Care Knowledge Scale

Background and Purpose: There is currently no scale to measure the self-care knowledge of patients with hypertensive nephropathy. This study aimed to develop the Hypertensive Nephropathy Self-Care Knowledge (HN-SCK) scale for these patients and to test its reliability and validity. Methods: A methodological study was conducted in two stages. In stage 1, the content of the HN-SCK scale was developed after reviewing the literature and based on Orem's Self-Care Model. In stage 2, data were collected from June 2021 to November 2021, and a convenience sample of 240 patients in the nephrology department of a hospital was recruited. Exploratory factor analysis was used to test the construct validity of the scale using principal component analysis with orthogonal rotation. The scale's reliability was tested using Cronbach's α and Pearson's correlation coefficient. Results: The HN-SCK scale comprises 12 items. Three factors were extracted, namely, disease cognition, dietary management, and notes for daily life, with Cronbach's coefficients (α) of 0.72, 0.87, and 0.71, respectively. The total explained variance was 57.65%. Implications for Practice: The scale has excellent reliability and validity. It can preliminarily assess patients' self-care knowledge so that health care professionals can provide them with relevant knowledge in a timely manner and thereby improve their self-care level and assist them in coexisting with their disease status.