title: The instrument 'sense of security in care--patients' evaluation': its development and presentation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this paper is to report the development, construction, and psychometric properties of the new instrument Sense of Security in Care - Patients' Evaluation (SEC-P) in palliative home care.
  
  
  METHODS
  The preliminary instrument was based on a review of the literature and an analysis of qualitative interviews with patients about their sense of security. To test the instrument, 161 patients (58% women) in palliative home care were recruited and participated in a structured interview based on a comprehensive questionnaire (response rate 73%). We used principal component analysis to identify subscales and tested the construction in correlation with other scales and questions representing concepts that we expected to be related to sense of security in care.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The principal component analysis resulted in three subscales: Care Interaction, Identity, and Mastery, built on a total of 15 items. The component solution had an explained variance of 55%. Internal consistency of the subscales ranged from 0.84 to 0.69. Inter-scale correlations varied between 0.40 and 0.59. The scales were associated to varying degrees with the quality of the care process, perceived health, quality of life, stress, and general sense of security.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The developed SEC-P provides a three-component assessment of palliative home care settings using valid and reliable scales. The scales were associated with other concepts in ways that were expected. The SEC-P is a manageable means of assessment that can be used to improve quality of care and in research focusing on patients' sense of security in care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
authors.forename: Barbro
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Krevers
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Milberg
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006699:Home Care Services; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000523:psychology*; D063868:Patient Outcome Assessment; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D011594:Psychometrics; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: cancer; oncology; palliative home care; patients; quality of care; sense of security