Validity and reliability of an Emotional Thermometer tool: an exploratory cross-sectional study

AbstractIntroduction There are a few screening tools to detect psychological symptoms among people with multiple chronic conditions (MCCs) in China.Aim The aim of this study was to examine the validity and reliability of a translated version of the Emotional Thermometer (ET) tool.Materials and methods This cross-sectional study consisted of two phases: (1) translation and content validity testing; and (2) assessment of psychometric properties, including internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and construct validity. For the first phase, the authors used a forward-backward translation approach for the Chinese version of the instrument and tested its content validity with a panel of six experts. For the second phase, the data, including the ET tool and demographic characteristics were collected in a convenience sample of 197 Chinese people with MCCs recruited from a university hospital. The first 50 participants participated in the two-week retest.Results The Chinese version of the ET tool had satisfactory psychometric properties; content validity index (0.83), internal consistency (0.92), and ICC (0.93 to 0.98 [p < 0.01]). Principal component analysis showed that there was only one component with an eigenvalue greater than 1 (value = 3.80), with 76.67% of the variance responding. All items loaded significantly onto this factor and demonstrated strong loadings of > 0.70.Conclusion The Chinese-version of the ET tool is psychometrically sound. It has the potential to be used as a screening tool for psychological symptoms in Chinese people with MCCs.Impact statement Findings from testing the Chinese translation of the Emotional Thermometer indicate this could be a convenient and useful screening tool to detect psychological symptoms in patients with multiple chronic conditions.KEYWORDS: DistressMental healthMultiple chronic conditionsMultimorbidityPsychometrics AcknowledgmentsWe thank Dr. Alex J Mitchell, the developer of the Emotional Thermometer tool, and Dr. Xiaoyue Xu for providing statistics help.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by Science and Technology Bureau of Bengbu: [Grant Number ZD0406].