Development of an empowerment scale for inpatients in the Kaifukuki Rehabilitation Ward: validation of the validity and reliability of the scale and difference between the empowerment scale and the FIM.

Abstract

The Kaifukuki Rehabilitation Ward (KRW) provides patients with support for improving the ability to perform activities of daily living and acquiring autonomy. The ability to solve problems independently, defined as empowerment, is crucial for life after hospital discharge. The purpose of this study was to develop a new empowerment scale for KRWs and verify its validity and reliability. This new scale was created by selecting items suitable for KRWs from previous work on developing empowerment scales. The assessment of the validity and reliability of the scale and a comparison of this scale with the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) were performed based on 159 responses. Although three of the 18 items showed response biases, the factor structure of the scale showed moderate validity (RMSEA = 0.083, correlation coefficient between subscale and total score = 0.61 - 0.83). The concurrent validity and internal consistency were generally good, and the test-retest reliability of the total score was 0.93 in the intraclass correlation coefficients. There was no correlation between the FIM and the new scale. The developed empowerment scale has certain validity and reliability and may provide a different outcome than the FIM.