Psychometric Study of the Adolescent Empowerment Tools in Congenital Heart Disease in Iran

Adolescents with congenital heart disease (CHD) need lifelong health care. Empowerment in these patients can lead to greater participation in care and self-management skills. The current research is a psychometric study on the empowerment of the adolescents with congenital heart diseases.

This psychometric study was performed on 200 patients with congenital heart disease referred to medical centers and hospitals of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. The initial 15-item tool of this study was translated into Persian after obtaining permission from the original author. Then the psychometric process of the scale, including the examination of content validity index, content validity ratio with the judgment of 30 experts; and the validity of its structure was performed using heuristic factor analysis. The internal homogeneity of the instrument was determined by Cronbach's alpha coefficient and the reliability test of the instrument was evaluated by the open test method.

The content validity index (CVI) was above 0.8 for each item. According to the results of exploratory factor analysis, none of the shared values was less than 0.5. The results of Pearson correlation test showed a significant positive relationship between the two stages of distributing the questionnaires (P = 0.001). Based on Cronbach's alpha coefficient, the total internal consistency of the scale was obtained 0.725, and 0.73-0.99 for its components.

The adolescent empowerment scale for congenital diseases was approved with 15 items. Meanwhile, its reliability and validity were approved, too. So, this scale can be used as a reliable tool for caring for and examining the empowerment of adolescents with congenital diseases.