BMC Palliative Care (Feb 2021)

Cultural adaptation and psychometric evaluation of the Chinese version of the nurse-specific end-of-life professional caregiver survey: a cross-sectional study

  • Zhijie Zou,
  • Jinbing Bai,
  • Yaohua Gu,
  • Qihua Zou,
  • Canhua Xiao,
  • Jiong Yang,
  • Qing Zhang,
  • Mark Lazenby

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12904-021-00725-2
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 20, no. 1
pp. 1 – 9

Abstract

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Abstract Background Nurses’ palliative and hospice care-specific education is associated with the quality of palliative and hospice care that influences health outcomes of patients with life-limiting illnesses and their caregivers. However, China lacks measures available to assess nurses’ educational needs in palliative and hospice care. The End-of-Life Professional Caregiver Survey (EPCS) is a psychometrically reliable self-reporting scale to measure multidisciplinary professionals’ palliative and hospice care educational needs. This study was performed to explore the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the EPCS (EPCS-C) among Chinese nurses. Methods We translated and culturally adapted the EPCS into Chinese based on Beaton and colleagues’ instrument adaptation process. A cross-sectional study design was used. We recruited 312 nurses from 1482 nurses in a tertiary hospital in central China using convenience sampling to complete the study. Participants completed the EPCS-C and a demographic questionnaire. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was carried out to test and verify the construct validity of the nurse-specific EPCS-C. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used to appraise the reliability of the nurse-specific EPCS-C. Results A three-factor structure of EPCS-C was determined, including cultural, ethical, and national values; patient- and family-centered communication; and effective care delivery. The exploratory factor analysis explained 70.82% of the total variances. The 3-factor solution of the nurse-specific EPCS-C had a satisfactory model fit: χ2 = 537.96, χ2/df = 2.96, CFI = 0.94, RMSEA = 0.079, IFI = 0.94, and GFI = 0.86. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the overall questionnaire was 0.96. Conclusions The nurse-specific EPCS-C showed satisfactory reliability and validity to assess nurses’ palliative and hospice care educational need. Further research is required to verify the reliability and validity of the EPCS-C in a larger sample, especially the criterion-related validity.

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