AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To translate the Self-care Ability Scale for the Elderly into Simplified Chinese, and to test the Chinese version of the scale regarding its reliability and validity among older people.

BACKGROUND: Self-care is an important topic in nursing. When assessing older people's self-care ability, it is essential that a reliable and valid instrument is used.

DESIGN: This study employed across-sectional design.

METHODS: We translated the English version of the Self-care Ability Scale for the Elderly into Simplified Chinese according to Brislin's translation guidelines, and carried out a questionnaire survey among 610 older people, including both community-dwelling people and hospital patients, in Jinzhou City, People's Republic of China. Eighty participants completed the instrument twice for test-retest reliability. Data analyses were performed using SPSS 17.0 and Mplus, version 5 to assess reliability and validity.

RESULTS: A Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.89 and statistically significant item-to-total correlations showed evidence of homogeneity. An intra-class correlation coefficient of 0.99 for the test-retest between total scores and intra-class correlation coefficients between 0.87 and 0.99 for the test-retest scores of each item explained the almost perfect test-retest reliability noted in this study. Content validity was found to be good, and a three-factor model was obtained in an exploratory factor analysis, (explaining a variance of 57%), and modified in a confirmatory factor analysis (χ(2) =261.559, df=98, RMSEA=0.074; SRMR=0.059), which reflected an acceptable construct validity.

CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that the Chinese version of the Self-care Ability Scale for the Elderly has sufficient psychometric properties for assessing self-care ability among older people in China.

RELEVANCE FOR PRACTICE: A reliable and valid instrument is available to assess the self-care ability of older Chinese people. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.