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Background & Aim: It is crucial to assess communication skills among health workers using valid culture-based instruments. This study aimed to develop and assess psychometric properties of the Interpersonal Communication Skills Scale among Zanjan Health Volunteers.

Methods & Materials: In this study, a total of 191 health volunteers participated in a self-rating assessment of the Communication Skills Scale (CSS). Moreover, 14 experts were asked to rate each item based on the relevance, clarity, and simplicity. Through a literature review, we developed an instrument with 43 items. The validity of the instrument was determined using the impact item method, content validity ratio (CVR), content validity index (CVI), face validity and exploratory factor analysis. Reliability of the instrument was reported by Alpha Cronbach coefficient. The CSS finally contained 35 items, divided into two categories: general and specific communication skills.

Results: Of 43 items, those with impact item index over 1.5, CVR over 0.51, and CVI over 0.79 were considered as valid while the rest were discarded resulting in a 35-item scale. Factor analysis was carried out to determine the relationship among the items of the CSS. Exploratory factor analysis reduced the list of items to 30, which were divided into seven groups with a minimum eigenvalue of 1 for each factor, capable of predicting 68.8% of the variance. Internal reliability of the scale was determined by alpha Cronbach coefficient (0.91).

Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that the CSS is a valid and reliable instrument for assessment of the communication skills among health volunteers in Zanjan. These findings could be used for developing similar instruments in other health worker groups.

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  Background & Aim: The Roy’s adaptation model is a helpful instrument to be used in treatment processes of patient s with chronic diseases. According to chronic nature of amputee veterans' diseases, it is expected that the implementation of care plan s based on this model can increase adaptation in the patients . The present study was performed to design and determine validity and reliability of a researcher-designed adaptation questionnaire based on the Roy’s adaptation model on war veterans with lower limb amputation .

  Methods & Materials: This study was conducted among war veterans referred to the veteran clinic of Orthotics and Prosthetics center using convenience sampling method during 2012-2014 . M ain concepts of adaptation defined based on the Roy’s adaptation model were used to provide items. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire was assessed using the content validity index (CVI), content validity ratio (CVR), face validity, internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha), and stability (test-retest reliability) tests.

  Results: Thirty five items were developed including 15 items on physiological area, 11 items on self-concept area, four items on dependence/ independence area, and five items on role playing area. The CVI was 0.95 . The Cronbach's alpha was 0.78. The correlation coefficient values ​​were more than 0.7 in each area .

  Conclusion: The psychometric analysis of the questionnaire showed proper validity and reliability for measuring adaptation on war veterans with lower limb amputation. The questionnaire is recommended to be used in nursing practice .

  

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Background & Aim: Assessment of sexual health literacy requires an appropriate tool. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a questionnaire to evaluate the level of sexual health literacy among Iranian adults.
Methods & Materials: This study was designed in two phases in Tehran during 2017-2018. In the first step, the questionnaire was developed by item generation through expert panel and literature review. In the second step, the assessment of psychometric properties of the questionnaire including face, content, and structure validity (exploratory factor analysis) and convergence criterion (using general health literacy questionnaire) were done. Reliability of the questionnaire was assessed by internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Data were analyzed using the SPSS software version 21.
Results: The content validity indices (CVI and CVR) for all items were 0.84 and 0.81, respectively. Exploratory factor analysis identified four factors including skills of access, reading and understanding, evaluation and analysis, and application of information that explained %68.1 of the variance. Convergent validity of the questionnaire showed a correlation between the questionnaire’s dimensions and general health literacy questionnaire in the range of 0.31 to 0.70. The SHELA showed a high internal consistency reliability with Cronbach’s alpha, ranging from 0.84 to 0.94 and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), ranging from 0.90 to 0.97.
Conclusion: The psychometric assessment of the 40-item questionnaire (SHELA) indicates desirable validity and reliability. This questionnaire is suggested for assessing the level of sexual health literacy of adults in future studies.