healthAdaptation of Diabetic Empowerment Scale-Short Form to Older Individuals and to Turkish Language: Validity and Reliability Study

Objective: The empowerment of old people is important in order for them to gain control over their own lives and to raise their quality of life. The purpose of this study was to adapt the Diabetes Empowerment Scale-Short Form (DES-SF) to old people and to the Turkish language, and to determine its validity and reliability. Materials and Methods: This methodological type study was conducted between 1 January and 30 March 2017 with 106 old people fitting the criteria of acceptance in the study who attended the geriatrics clinic of a university hospital. In determining validity, language equivalence, content, and predictive validity were used, while reliability was tested with temporal invariance, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, and item total correlation. We examined its reliability and validity via item analyses, content validity (expert panel), confirmatory factor analyses, and construct validity (exploratory factor analyses). Results: The Cronbach’s alpha of the scale was 0.883. The scale items were grouped under a single factor in accordance with the original. Confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis showed good fit signs. Conclusion: After conducting validity and reliability testing on the adaptation of the Diabetic Empowerment Scale-Short Form to old people and the Turkish language, it is was concluded that it is a reliable scale to determine the empowerment levels of old people. Based on the statistical analyses applied to evaluate the validity and reliability of the scale obtained by adapting the DES-SF to old people, it was inferred that it is an instrument with high validity and reliability. The scale is a short and practical instrument to evaluate the empowerment levels of old people. The new name of the scale is the elderly empowerment scale