Development and preliminary psychometric testing of the centrality of XXXX scale.

@entity1 @entity308 @entity1005 @entity148 @entity158 @entity1118
OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to develop and begin to evaluate a new measure of the centrality of @entity158 in @entity1 ' lives. DESIGN: The study was designed as a cross-sectional survey and cognitive interviews. SETTING: The study was set in an academic general internal medicine clinic. @entity1 : Sixty-five adult internal medicine @entity1 with chronic @entity158 (CNMP) participated in the study. OUTCOME MEASURES: We assessed content validity and clarity of the 10-item Centrality of @entity158 Scale (COPS) by soliciting feedback from @entity1118 experts and by conducting cognitive interviews with @entity1 with CNMP. We assessed internal consistency reliability using Cronbach's alpha. We assessed construct validity by comparing the COPS with other measures of @entity1118 morbidity including @entity158 severity, @entity308 , @entity148 , physical and mental health function, @entity1005 , quality of life, and provider assessment. RESULTS: Health care providers felt the COPS had excellent face validity. Cognitive interviews revealed that @entity1 ' understanding of the items matched the intended construct, the scale measured an important concept, and items were easy to understand. The COPS had excellent internal consistency (alpha = 0.9). It was negatively associated with age (r = -0.29; P = 0.02), but not with other demographic characteristics. Higher COPS scores were associated with poorer physical (r = -0.48; P < 0.001) and mental (r = -0.39; P = 0.002) health function, quality of life (r = -0.36; P = 0.004), and provider assessment of stability (r = -0.38; P = 0.004) as well as with greater @entity158 grade (r = 0.55; P < 0.001), and @entity308 (r = 0.63; P < 0.001). In multivariate analyses, age, physical and mental health function, and @entity308 were independently associated with COPS. CONCLUSIONS: The COPS has excellent internal consistency and construct validity. Additional studies are needed to further validate the scale.
