Self-Management Scale for Chronic Pruritus in Older People: Instrument Development and Preliminary Validation

Chronic pruritus has a significant global impact, which is common in the elderly population. Developing a standardised and validated assessment tool is the basis for managing chronic pruritus. However, there is little research on standardised assessment tools for self-management in older people with chronic pruritus.

To construct and test the Self-management Scale for Chronic Pruritus in older people and provide a scientific and reliable tool to measure the self-management level of older people with chronic pruritus.

A three-phased exploratory sequential mixed-method design was used. In phase I, the initial construction of scale dimensions and items was conducted through literature review, semi-structured interviews and the Delphi method. In phase II, the scale was optimised, and the test version of the scale was formed. In phase III, we used the scale for practical evaluation. This research was conducted according to the STROBE guidelines.

Based on literature reviews and examination by experts, a draft scale was formulated. From October 2023 to December 2023, a total of 180 older people were recruited for item analysis and 206 older people were recruited for practical evaluation.

A total of 20 items were finally retained by the item analysis from the initial pool. In the exploratory factor analysis, the five-factor model explained 75.491% of the total variation, and the data fit was good. Based on multiple linear regression, the self-management level of older people with chronic pruritus was significantly correlated with gender, occupation, income, pruritus-related diagnosis, awareness of pruritus predisposing factors and receipt of pruritus treatment.

Self-management Scale for Chronic Pruritus in older people has good reliability and validity, providing a reference basis for healthcare professionals to assess the self-management levels of older people with chronic pruritus.

Healthcare professionals can use this scale to evaluate the self-management level of chronic pruritus in older people and explore the influencing factors, which can help develop targeted health education programmes.

Experts provided suggestions for developing the scale. Older people with chronic pruritus participated in the scale revision process to improve wording.