Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) require continuous self-care due to possible complications and side effects from treatment. However, existing tools do not capture all of the critical factors of AF self-care and have limited evidence of reliability and validity.
Aims
The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a new Atrial Fibrillation Self-Care Scale-10 (AF-SCS-10) that assesses disease-specific, multidimensional, person-centered self-care for AF patients in South Korea.
Methods
For this cross-sectional research design, 290 individuals over 20 years of age with a diagnosis of AF for at least three months were recruited. A literature review and in-depth interviews were utilized to identify the scale items. An expert panel evaluated the validity and reliability of a preliminary scale. Exploratory factor analysis and parallel analysis was performed to extract factors; confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to evaluate fit on the factor structures. Criterion validity was supported by the correlation between AF-SCS-10 and AF quality of life.
Results
The internal consistency reliability coefficient was 0.87. Three factors, “self-care knowledge,” “self-care behavior,” and “self-care resources” were extracted from the exploratory factory analysis, explaining 79.30% of the total variance in the data. The three-factor model was also confirmed by parallel analysis; CFA met the fitness criteria.
Conclusion
There is preliminary evidence for internal consistency reliability, as well as content and construct validity, for the AF-SCS-10. Future research is needed to confirm the study results using a larger, more culturally diverse sample.
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