Validity and reliability of the Turkish version of “self-care behaviour scale” in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

Objective: Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic disease that requires longterm medication, has several side effects and limits the individual’s daily life that may cause self-care deficiency. Therefore, self-care behaviors of the patients should be identified systematically and selfcare behaviors should be supported accordingly. This study aimed to analyze whether or not the scale of self-care behavior was a valid and reliable tool to measure self-care behaviors in the Turkish rheumatoid arthritis population. Methods: The study was conducted between February 1, 2017 - August 30, 2017 in a rheumatology clinic of a university hospital. For language validity, the scale was translated from English and then translated from Turkish to English. For the validity of the items of the translated scale, ten expert opinions were obtained and finalized the scale and consequential form was applied to 119 patients. Results: Cronbach’s Alpha value was found to be 0.675 for internal consistency analysis in accordance with the original values of the scale. Additionally, because of expert opinions, Cronbach’s Alpha value obtained by reversely scoring the first three items were 0.558. Conclusion: Because of the validity and reliability analysis of the SelfCare Behavior scale, it is found that it is a moderately reliable and valid scale for the Turkish society; It is recommended that the items in the scale may cause misunderstandings about patients’ self-care, and therefore a Turkish scale that can measure self-care behaviors in a more valid and reliable manner is recommended.