Psychometric testing of the modified Care Dependency Scale for Rehabilitation.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the psychometric properties of the modified Care Dependency Scale for Rehabilitation.


METHODS
All patients were assessed independently by a different set of two randomly selected nurses.


METHODS
A convenience sample consisting of 1197 patients and 42 nurses was recruited in an Austrian rehabilitation centre specialized on the treatment and care of neurological and orthopaedic patients.


METHODS
The Care Dependency Scale for Rehabilitation and the Barthel Index.


METHODS
To estimate aspects of reliability, Cronbach's alpha, Cohen's kappa, percentage agreement, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and standard error of measurement (SEM) were calculated. To evaluate the construct validity, a factor analysis was conducted. Criterion-related validity was examined by comparing data of the modified Care Dependency Scale for Rehabilitation with the Barthel Index and Pearson calculation.


RESULTS
The calculation of Cronbach's alpha yielded values of 0.97. Kappa values were between 0.89 and 0.96, values of percentage agreement between 96% and 99%, ICC values between 0.94 and 0.99, and SEM values between 0.08 and 0.17. Pearson (r) was 0.88. The factor analysis revealed a one-factor solution.


CONCLUSIONS
The modified Care Dependency Scale for Rehabilitation shows a high internal consistency, as well as a high level of equivalence. Furthermore, criterion-related validity and construct validity have shown satisfying results.
Eichhorn-Kissel
Juliane
J
Institute of Nursing Science, Medical University of Graz, Austria. juliane.eichhorn-kissel@medunigraz.at
Dassen
Theo
T
Kottner
Jan
J
Lohrmann
Christa
C
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D006801:Humans; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D011594:Psychometrics; D012046:Rehabilitation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012494:Sampling Studies