Assessing role activities of individuals receiving long-term hemodialysis: Psychometric testing of the revised Inventory of Functional Status-Dialysis (IFS-Dialysis^R)

The purpose of the study was to examine the reliability and validity of the revised IFS-Dialysis^R, a theory-based self-report measure of the extent to which individuals receiving long-term hemodialysis are actually performing role activities. The IFS-Dialysis^R was administered to 186 individuals receiving hemodialysis. Chronbach's alpha was used to assess internal consistency reliability, and structural equation modeling was used to assess the construct validity of the revised measure. Alpha reliability for the total instrument was 0.88, and subscale alpha coefficients ranged from 0.75 to 0.85. Construct validity of the IFS-Dialysis^R was supported by the significant relationship of each item to its respective subscale latent variable, and model testing indicated a good fit of the measurement model to the data. The IFS-Dialysis^R can be used to obtain clinical assessments of the extent to which individuals receiving long-term hemodialysis treatments are engaging in role activities. Interventions can then be implemented to facilitate an optimal level of activity performance for each individual.