The Vietnamese Hemodialysis Stressor Scale and Jalowiec Coping Scale for Hemodialysis Patients:Translation and Psychometric Testing

Abstract

Objective: There are no available Vietnamese instruments to assess stressors experienced by and coping methods/strategies used by hemodialysis patients. The aim of the current study was to generate the Vietnamese-version of the Jalowiec Coping Scale (JCS-V) and Hemodialysis Stressor Scale (HSS-V) and to test their psychometric properties. Methods: A total of 180 hemodialysis patients were recruited from the nephrology and dialysis units in two hospitals at Hanoi, Vietnam. After translating the instruments, we conducted psychometric testing including internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and construct validity. Construct validity of the JCS-V and HSS-V were established by performing exploratory factor analyses and testing the correlations between the Vietnamese instruments and Short Form 36 (SF-36) Health Survey Vietnamese version. Results: The Vietnamese translations captured the content of the original instruments. Internal consistency reliability (Cronbach α) of the overall HSS-V and its two subscales were satisfactory: overall (0.91), physiological (0.77), psychosocial (0.90). The Cronbach α values for the eight subscales in the JCS-V use/effectiveness scales ranged from 0.33 to 0.88. Test-retest reliability of the two Vietnamese instruments were satisfactory (HSS-V: ICC = 0.92 – 0.93; JCS-V: ICC = 0.78 – 0.96). Construct validity of the HSS-V was confirmed by significant negative relationships between the scores on the HSS-V and SF-36 Health Survey Vietnamese version (r = -0.17 to -0.33, p < 0.05). Exploratory factor analysis of the HSS-V resulted in a four-factor model (dependency, limitation/changes, physical symptoms, family reversal) which explained 56.7 % of the total variance. Exploratory factor analysis of the JCS-V resulted in a four-factor model (problem-solving, avoidance, give-up, support seeking) which explained 45.4% of the total variance. Conclusion: Reliability and validity of the HSS-V were acceptable. For the JCS-V, only the test-retest reliability was satisfactory. Five of the eight subscales in the JCS-V showed moderate to high internal consistency. Construct validity of the JCS-V was not confirmed by testing hypothesized relationship. Further studies are needed to retest the psychometric properties of the JCS-V.