Development and pilot testing of four desired health outcomes scales.
OBJECTIVE
To develop and pilot test scales to measure desired health outcomes hypothesized to result from high-quality cancer nursing care: Fortitude Scale, Trust in Nurses Scale, Cancer Patient Optimism Scale, and Authentic Self-Representation Scale.


METHODS
Instrument development.


METHODS
Community cancer support organization.


METHODS
66 recently treated patients with cancer who attended a cancer support organization workshop. The sample was predominately white, middle-aged, well-educated females.


METHODS
Items for each scale were generated from qualitative data and the literature. The scales properties were evaluated using expert panel assessment of content validity, cognitive interviews of patients with cancer, and reliability and validity testing of each scale with the Multitrait/Multi-Item Analysis Program Revised (MAP-R) statistical program.


RESULTS
Participant responses to the four scales did not include the lowest possible score. Responses yielded evidence of adequate Cronbachs alpha internal consistency reliability for each scale: 0.81 for the Fortitude Scale; 0.81 for Trust in Nurses Scale, 0.75 for Cancer Patient Optimism Scale, and 0.71 for Authentic Self-Representation Scale. The MAP-R statistics yielded evidence of acceptable convergent validity and discriminant validity.


CONCLUSIONS
The data provided preliminary evidence of acceptable psychometric properties for four scales designed to measure desired outcomes of cancer nursing care. Support was found for careful use of scales. Further psychometric testing with large samples is recommended.


CONCLUSIONS
These scales represent an initial effort toward providing measures of the desired health outcomes that patients with cancer attributed to high-quality cancer nursing care.
Radwin
Laurel E
LE
Department of Nursing, University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA, USA. laurel.radwin@umb.edu
Washko
Michelle
M
Suchy
Kathryn A
KA
Tyman
Kerri
K
D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000451:nursing; D009732:Nursing Care / Q000592:standards*; D009859:Oncology Nursing / Q000592:standards*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires