Reliability and validity of the Chinese version of sense of coherence scale among the older people

Abstract

Objective To test the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the sense of coherence (SOC) scale (13-items) among the older people. Methods A random sample of 1 032 old adults was selected from community in Jinzhou, Shenyang, Dalian of Liaoning. A demographic questionnaire, the SOC-13 scale, the WHO-5 and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) were used to collect the data.All the data was analyzed by SPSS 21.0 and AMOS17.0. Results The item-total correlation coefficients of SOC-13 ranged from 0.625 to 0.760(P<0.01). The result of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was that three factors explained 74.745% of the total variances, and the CFA confirmed the hypothesized three-factor model. SOC scale had an ideal criterion(χ2/df=2.908, CFI= 0.975, GFI=0.949, NFI=0.963, IFI=0.975, RMSEA=0.061). Criterion related validity test showed that the total score of SOC-13 was negatively correlated with CES-D(r=-0.55, P<0.01), and positively correlated with WHO-5 (r=0.73, P<0.01). SOC-13 had a Cronbach's α of 0.916, the Guttman split-half coefficient was 0.828, and the retest reliability (intra-class correlation coefficient, ICC) was 0.872 (P<0.01). Conclusion SOC-13 is a reliable and valid instrument, which can be used to measure the lever of sense of coherence among Chinese old adults. Key words: The elderly; Sense of coherence; Scale; Reliability; Validity