Validation of the Chinese Version of the Readiness for Hospital Discharge Scale on Patients Who Have Undergone Laryngectomy

ABSTRACT Background: The Readiness for Hospital Discharge Scale (RHDS) was designed to assess the readiness of patients for discharge. The original English-language instrument has shown high degrees of reliability and validity, but no Chinese version of the scale has been verified. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to translate the RHDS into Chinese and assess the psychometric properties of this scale on laryngectomy patients in China. Methods: The RHDS was translated into Chinese using forward and back translation, semantic equivalence assessment, and pilot testing. The content and construct validity, internal consistency, and internal reliability of the translated scale were assessed using exploratory factor analysis and Pearson correlation analysis. Results: The content validity index of the developed Chinese version of the RHDS was .97, with the content validity indexes of RHDS items ranging between .75 and 1.00. The Cronbach’s α coefficient for internal consistency was .97. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a three-factor structural model. All correlations among the three factor subscales were significant. Pearson’s correlation coefficients between subscale factors and the total scale ranged from .81 to .97. Conclusions: The Chinese version of the RHDS is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing the discharge readiness of laryngectomy patients in China.