Psychometric Properties Persian version of Nursing Delirium Screening Scale

 Delirium is associated with increased length of hospital stay, mechanical ventilation, self-extubation, and mortality. Early diagnosis of delirium leads promotes rapid management of the treatment process and prevents disease progression. To increase the likelihood of delirium diagnosing, patients should be continuously evaluated by nurses based on an appropriate scale. This study aimed to translate and psychometric nursing delirium screening scale.

 After translating the scale into Persian, its face and content validity were checked. To determine the criterion validity, 150 patients were first evaluated by a physician based on DSM-5 criteria for delirium. Then, the nurse evaluated the patients with the NuDESC scale without knowing the physician's diagnosis. The sensitivity and specificity of the scale for delirium diagnosis were calculated. The scale construct validity was determined by factor analysis, reliability of the scale was determined by Cronbach's alpha, Guttman, and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient.

 The total content validity ratio for the Persian version of the scale was 0.96 and the content validity index was 0.97. The ROC curve with an area under the curve 0.98 showed the high ability of the scale to delirium diagnosis. At the cut of points higher than 2, the sensitivity was 92.8% and its specificity was 91.7%. The internal correlation of the scale with Cronbach's alpha Coefficient was 0.99. Intraclass Correlation Coefficient with a value of 0.75 (CI; 0.70 - 0.80) showed the appropriate stability of scoring between evaluators.

 The Persian version of the Nursing Delirium Screening Scale has good validity and reliability for delirium diagnosis in intensive care unit patients.