Development and psychometric testing of the suicide caring competence scale (SCCS) for family caregivers in Taiwan

6^th World Nursing and Healthcare Conference

August 15-17, 2016 London, UK

Fan Ko Sun

I-Shou University, Taiwan

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Nurs Care

Abstract :

The competence of family members in caring for their suicidal relatives plays a key role in preventing these relatives from committing suicide. However, a scale to assess the caring competence of caregivers for suicidal individuals is not available. The purpose of this study was to develop and test the psychometric properties of the Suicide Caring Competence Scale (SCCS) for family caregivers in Taiwan. This study was a cross-sectional questionnaire survey. A preliminary 20-item SCCS was developed and tested on 165 caregivers of people who attempted suicide in 2009 and 2010. Item analysis was used to delete redundant items. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to examine the construct validity. The association between educational level and the SCCS was used to examine the concurrent validity of the SCCS. Cronbachâ��s �± and test-retest reliability were examined to understand the reliability of the SCCS. A second-order factorial model with 5 subscales and 19 items best fit the data. The 5 subscales were proactive prevention, daily living care, seeking assistance from professional resources, seeking assistance from laypersons, and seeking assistance from religious resources. The higher the educational level the higher is the competence. The Cronbachâ��s �±, test-retest reliability of the total scale and the subscales ranged from 0.67 to 0.90 and from 0.62 to 0.82, respectively. The SCCS had acceptable validity and reliability. Nurses can use the SCCS to assess the suicide caring competence of family caregivers and to provide proper education to improve their suicide caring competence.

Biography :

Fan-Ko Sun is working as a Professor at the I-Shou University in Taiwan. She completed her PhD degree at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, UK, in 2004. She has published more than 45 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an Editorial Board Member of repute.

Email: sunfanko@isu.edu.tw