Assessment of the reliability and validity of the Comfort Scale for adult intensive care patients.
OBJECTIVE
This study sought to evaluate the use of the Comfort Scale (CS), originally developed for children, in sedated adults at intensive care units.


METHODS
Comfort and sedation were assessed in a convenience sample of 88 adult intensive-care patients receiving mechanical ventilation, using 5 instruments (the Ramsay Scale, Sedation Agitation Scale, Richmond Agitation Sedation Scale, Glasgow Coma Scale, and CS).


RESULTS
Reliability (internal consistency according to Cronbach's α, .60 to .66; inter-rater reliability, r = .81; test-retest, r = .21 to .31) and validity (criterion validity with other scales, κ = .49 to .74, for construct validity and sensitivity) were determined. The range of children's comfort (i.e., 17 to 26) was different from that in adults (i.e., 16 to 20).


CONCLUSIONS
Results partially support the use of the CS among adults in intensive care units, with some minor adjustments.
Ashkenazy
Shelly
S
Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Hadassah Medical Organization, Jerusalem, Israel. shellyashkenazy@gmail.com
DeKeyser-Ganz
Freda
F
D018806:APACHE; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001143:Arousal; D016292:Procedural Sedation / Q000451:nursing* / Q000523:psychology*; D003422:Critical Care / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D015600:Glasgow Coma Scale / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012121:Respiration, Artificial / Q000451:nursing / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult