Validation of the Cognitive Appraisal Health Scale with Jordanian patients.

The purpose of this study was to test the psychometric properties and the theoretical structure of the Cognitive Appraisal Health Scale for patients with acute and chronic diseases in medical and surgical wards. Previously, the Scale was validated with patients diagnosed with prostate cancer. However, in order to examine the psychometric properties of the scale with patients diagnosed with health problems other than prostate cancer, this study was conducted. The convenience sample of 140 male and 128 female patients was selected from an educational hospital and three private hospitals in Jordan. The factor structure for the Scale was examined by using confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis. The 13 item model with three factors yielded highly acceptable indices in all respects for patients with acute and chronic diseases and appears most useful for measuring their cognitive appraisal.