[Development and validation of the hospice palliative care performance scale].

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a hospice-palliative care performance measure which would cover more than just physical symptoms or quality of life.

METHODS

Through an intensive literature review, the author chose questions that measured aspects of physical, emotional, spiritual, social, or practical domains pertinent to hospice-palliative care for inclusion in the scale. Content validation of the questions was established by 15 hospice-palliative care professionals. A preliminary Hospice Palliative Care Performance Scale (HPCPS) of 20 questions was administered to 134 pairs of terminal cancer patients from 5 hospice palliative care units and their main family caregiver. A validation study was conducted to evaluate construct validity and internal consistency.

RESULTS

Factor analysis showed 14 significant questions in five subscales; Physical, Emotional, Spiritual, Social, and Patient' rights. There were no significant differences between the ratings by patients and family members except for three out of the 14 questions. The measure demonstrated construct validity, and Cronbach's alpha of the subscales ranged from .73 to .79.

CONCLUSION

The HPCOS demonstrated acceptable validity and reliability. It can be used to assess effectiveness of hospice-palliative care for terminal cancer patients in practice and research.