AbstractsCommunication

Problem: Continuity of care of the congestive heart failure (CHF) patient can be a challenge. There is a lack of instruments for measuring continuity of care, and few instruments are available to measure the interpersonal aspects of interaction between patients and their healthcare providers, which are considered key components of continuity of care (Saultz, 2003).Methodology: An 18-item questionnaire was developed to measure the subject's perception of their continuity of care. The CCQ-CHFP questionnaire utilized a 1-10 response option. There were two written anchors at the beginning and the end of the scale that were labeled 'Most strongly disagree' and 'Most strongly agree'. Consenting subjects were asked to read each item and circle the number on the scale indicating their perception of their continuity of care.Analysis: Content validity was established by clinical experts. A content validity index of greater than .80 was found for all items indicating content validity (Waltz, Strickland, and Lenz, 2005). Face validity was established by two patients who met criteria and completed the survey. No changes were made to the instrument based on their comments. Items means on the questionnaire ranged from 6.29 to 8.92, with SDs ranging from 1.58 to 4.08. Fifteen of the 18 items had an optimal range of 10. Principle components factor analysis was used to estimate the dimensionality of the scale. Four factors had eigenvalues greater than 1.00. These four factors accounted for 71% of the total variance explained. Cronbachs alpha for the four subscales were found to be as follows: Subscale 1 (Items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 12), .92; Subscale 2 (Items 13, 16, and 17), .83; Subscale 3 (Items 10, 11, and 18), .78; and Subscale 4 (Items 14 and 15), .59. Findings and Implications for Nursing: It is too early to draw conclusions from this pilot study due to the sample size of the population. Once the psychometric properties of the CCQ-CHFP are established, the scale can aid caregivers in identifying opportunities to enhance the continuity of care delivered to the CHF patient in both the inpatient and outpatient settings. Instrument development is a process of continual improvement and change. Once the instrument is fully evaluated, it will help caregivers identify opportunities to enhance the continuity of care for the CHF population.