SCALE DEVELOPMENT STUDY: ADAPTATION TO CHRONIC ILLNESS

Abstract

Aim: The study was performed in order to develop the Adaptation to Chronic Illness Scale (ACIS) for the determination of the adaptation levels of individuals with chronic illnesss to their condition. Methods: The study was performed with a methodological design. Context, structural, criterion validity and internal consistency reliability and test-retest validity-reliability analysis were performed. The statistical meaningfulness level in all tests was determined as p<0.05. Results: As a result of context validity, factor analysis and item analysis, a 25 item scale with 3 sub components was obtained. In the scale, the variance amount explained by the three sub components was on a very good level (88.64%). The fact that all of the Cronbach alpha, Spearman-Brown and Guttman internal consistency coefficients of the scale and all of its sub components are above 0.70. When the test retest reliability coefficients of the whole scale and its sub components were examined, the scale was found to present consistent results in different applications and the scale was found to be reliable with regard to the constancy coefficient. The ACIS shows highly meaningful correlation with a scale of proven validity and reliability. Conclusion: The Adaptation to Chronic Illness Scale (ACIS), which was just added to literature, is a valid and reliable tool that can be used to evaluate adaptation to illness in individuals with chronic diseases.