title: [Psychometric testing of the chinese version of the readiness for hospital discharge scale].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Little has been published in the literature regarding how patients self-evaluate their degree of readiness for hospital discharge. Furthermore, there is currently no self-evaluation tool available in Chinese able to assess the discharge readiness of patients.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study was used to psychometrically test the Chinese version of the readiness for hospital discharge scale (RHDS_C).
  
  
  METHODS
  This study used a cross-sectional design. Two samples were recruited in a two-stage process at two hospitals in Southern Taiwan. Two hundred and twenty-three patients with a diagnosis of either colorectal cancer or hepatic cancer were used to conduct an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) in the first stage of the study. Another 323 patients with a diagnosis of stroke were used conduct a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The instrument used was the Readiness for Hospital Discharge Scale (RHDS) developed by Weiss & Piacentine.
  
  
  RESULTS
  RHDS_C consists of three subscales: personal status (4 items), coping ability (4 items), and expected support (4 items) adapted from the CFA. The assessed goodness-of-fit index (GFI = .92, AGFI = .88, NFI = .97) indicate the model fit the data well based upon the CFA. Criterion-related validity was supported by the correlation between the original RHDS and the RHDS_C (r = .96, p < .001). The Cronbach's alpha coefficients were .89 for the overall scale and .73, .90, and .89 for the 3 subscales, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study confirms the validity of the RHDS_C and suggests this instrument is able to reliably assess the readiness of patients for discharge from the hospital. We recommend the scale be applied in the clinical setting to evaluate the discharge readiness of hospital patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, I-Shou University, Taiwan, ROC. lin2368@isu.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Yu-Hua
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Healthcare Administration, I-Shou University, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Chia-Chan
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Kao
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: A-Mei
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, E-Da Hospital, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Mei-Tzu
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Chi
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, Kaohsiung Medical University, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Fan-Hao
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Chou
keywords: discharge readiness; hospital; psychometric testing