Measuring the self-care practice of children and adolescents: instrument development.
OBJECTIVE
To develop an instrument to measure the self-care practice of children and adolescents.


METHODS
471 students, age 9-18, in 4th-12th grade.


METHODS
This methodological study involved item development and testing the instrument for reliability, readability, and construct validity.


RESULTS
Study findings for the 35-item Child and Adolescent Self-Care Practice Questionnaire included a coefficient alpha of .83 and moderate correlations with two self-care agency instruments. Factors corresponding to the self-care requisites in Orem's model were identified using a LISREL confirmatory factor analysis approach.


CONCLUSIONS
The Child and Adolescent Self-Care Practice Questionnaire can be used in further research to determine how children and adolescents perform as self-care agents. Activities are identified and measured, intervention strategies to improve behaviors can be planned.
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016294:Models, Nursing; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000592:standards*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012648:Self Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards