Measurement of resilience in Chinese older people

Background Resilience has been identified as a personal construct that may contribute to the process of healthy ageing in older people. To date, no measurement instrument has been tested to evaluate resilience in C hinese older people. Aim To examine the psychometric testing and clinical application of the C hinese version of the Resilience Scale ( RS ) in C hinese older people. Methods A descriptive cross‐sectional study design was used. Forward and backward translation procedures were used to obtain semantic equivalence of the original E nglish version of the RS . Content validity was examined by identified experts, followed by exploratory factor analysis, item‐to‐total correlation, C ronbach's α coefficients and test–retest reliability. Results The 25‐item C hinese version of Resilience Scale ( RS‐CN ) was fully completed by 461 C hinese older people. C ronbach's α for the total C hinese version of the Revised Resilience Scale was 0.95, with a range of 0.85–0.89 for the sub‐scales. Item‐to‐total correlation coefficients ranged from 0.51 to 0.75 and items were excluded with item‐to‐total correlations coefficients lower than 0.4. The test–retest reliability of the total scale was 0.80, sub‐scale test–retest reliability ranged from 0.61 to 0.620. The exploratory principal component analysis with varimax rotation revealed RS‐CN to have a four‐factor structure. Conclusion The RS‐CN is a valid and reliable instrument for the measurement of the concept of resilience in C hinese older people. The results of this study provide cross‐cultural evidence for the potential application of this scale in C hinese older people. Implications for nursing and health policy Greater insight into the psychological constructs of resilience in C hinese older people can lead to international comparisons and to the potential development of interventions for this population around the world.