Development of a self-management behaviour scale for liver cirrhosis

ObjectiveTo develop a self-management behaviour tool for liver cirrhosis patients in China.MethodsA provisional scale comprising 30 items was developed based on the results of literature review, semi-structured interviews, expert consultation and pilot study. Patients with hepatic cirrhosis (n = 180) from four grade A tertiary hospitals in Tianjin and Handan Infectious Disease Hospital were assessed using the provisional self-management scale comprising 30 items in four dimensions. The reliability and validity of the scale were tested and a final version of the self-management scale for liver cirrhosis comprising 24 items was concluded.ResultsThe overall Cronbach's α for the scale was 0.80, ranging from 0.60 to 0.69 in each dimension. The test–retest correlation was 0.84, ranging from 0.54 to 0.72 in each dimension. Content validity for the scale was 0.93. Nine factors were extracted by a factor analysis method, which were limited to four factors according to a scree test. The cumulative variance contribution rate was 56.98%.ConclusionThis scale has good reliability and validity and can be used to evaluate self-management behaviour of hepatic cirrhosis patients and provides a reference for behaviour intervention.