Translation and Psychometric Properties of the "Palliative Care Attitudes Scale (PCAS-9)"

Background: Palliative care improves the quality of life of patients and their families; attitudes toward such cares are effective in accepting or rejecting them. It is necessary to assess the attitude of patients in this field. This study was aimed to translate and investigate psychometric properties of the Palliative Care Attitudes Scale (PCAS-9) in the Iranian community. Materials: & Methods: This methodological research has been done in two parts of translation and psychometric evaluation. After translation and cultural adaptation, face validity (10 patients), content validity (10 experts), and construct validity were assessed using exploratory factor analysis (300 patients) and confirmatory factor analysis (210 patients). Then, internal consistency reliability and stability (30 patients) were measured for reliability. SPSS20 and LISREL were used for data analysis. Results: : PCAS-9 includes 9 items whose Persian translation were approved. Face and content validities were acceptable. Results of exploratory factor analysis showed three factors: emotional, cognitive, and behavioral. In confirmatory factor analysis, the values of fitness indices confirmed the appropriate fit of the model. The internal consistency reliability in the whole instrument was 0.929 and the intra-class correlation coefficient was 0.854. Conclusions: : Findings showed that the Persian version of the PCAS-9 had acceptable psychometric properties. It can be used to evaluate patients' attitudes toward palliative care in the Iranian community.