Reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the Readiness for Hospital Discharge Scale–Parent Form in parents of preterm infants

BACKGROUND: The Readiness for Hospital Discharge Scale (RHDS)−Parent Form shows satisfactory reliability and validity to assess the readiness of parents to take care of their children discharged from hospitals in Western countries. However, the reliability and validity of this instrument has not been evaluated in Chinese populations. OBJECTIVES: Evaluate the psychometric features of the RHDS−Parent Form among Chinese parents of preterm infants. METHODS: The RHDS−Parent Form was translated into a Chinese version following an international instrument translation guideline. A total of 168 parents with preterm infants were recruited from the neonatal intensive care units of two tertiary-level hospitals in China. The internal consistency of this measure was assessed using the Cronbach's α coefficient; confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to evaluate the construct validity; and Pearson correlation coefficient was used to report the convergent validity. RESULTS: The Chinese version of RHDS (C-RHDS)−Parent Form included 22 items with 4 subscales, accounting for 56.71% of the total variance. The C-RHDS−Parent Form and its subscales showed good reliability (Cronbach's α values 0.78–0.92). This measure and its subscales showed positive correlations with the score of Quality of Discharge Teaching Scale. CONCLUSION: The factor structure of C-RHDS−Parent Form is partially consistent with the original English version. Future studies are needed to explore the factors within this measure before it is widely used in Chinese clinical care settings.