Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of Fear of Hospitalization Scale in Patients Undergoing Emergency Surgery

Abstract

Purpose. Tis study was designed to characterize the psychometric properties of the Persian version of Fear of Hospitalization Scale (P-FHS). Design and Methods. In order to evaluate the validity and reliability of the translated scale, a cross-sectional design was employed. Ten experts evaluated the content validity of Fear of Hospitalization Scale (FHS) after it had been back-translated into Persian. With 612 patients having emergency surgery, construct validity was assessed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confrmatory factor analysis (CFA). Te STROBE checklist for cross-sectional studies was followed. Findings. Te results of EFA (n = 306) showed that fear of hospitalization had three factors. Tese three factors accounted for 45.28% of the total variance. Also, these factors were confrmed by CFA (n = 306) (root-mean-square error of approximation = (90% confdence interval) = 0.050 (0.041, 0.058), goodness-of-ft index = 0.945, comparative ft index = 0.968, non-normal ft index = 0.948, incremental ft index = 0.968, Tucker–Lewis index = 0.959). Te coefcients of Cronbach’s alpha, McDonald’s omega, composite reliability, and maximum reliability for all three factors were greater than 0.7, demonstrating satisfed internal consistency. Practice Implication. According to the published results, the P-FHS is efective at measuring hospitalization anxiety in patients undergoing emergency surgery. It is advised that nurses in Iranian culture use a legitimate and trustworthy technique to pinpoint the causes of hospitalization anxiety in patients undergoing emergency surgery to give optimal care.