The Adherence Scale for Cardiac Patients: Development and Initial Testing

The objective was to construct a self-report Adherence Scale for Cardiac Patients (ADSCAP), which measured the level of adherence to multiple aspects of self-care in heart disease. Through five phases, involving 450 patients and 100 caregivers altogether, the development and initial testing of the psychometric properties of ADSCAP were carried out. Based on the findings of exploratory factor analyses using principal component analyses with varimax rotation, ADSCAP was finalised to have 17 items with a 5-factor structure Adherence to exercise, Avoidance of health risk behaviours, Adherence to medication, Adherence to diet, and Planned adherence and emergency care. The reliability and validity analyses revealed satisfactory results. The limitations and recommendations, seeking testing of model-fit in future research, are presented.