The Cardiac Self-Efficacy Scale, a useful tool with potential to evaluate person-centred care.

Background: Cardiac self-efficacy is a person's belief in his/her ability to manage the challenges posed by a coronary disease, and its role has been evaluated in several coronary populations using the Cardiac Self-Efficacy Scale (CSE Scale). Self-efficacy has an important role in person-centred care, however there is a lack of appropriate instruments that evaluate person-centred interventions.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to validate the CSE Scale by examining its psychometric properties as a first step in evaluating a person-centred care intervention in persons with acute coronary syndrome (ACS).

Methods: The study sample consisted of 288 persons (72 women, 216 men) who completed the Swedish version of the CSE Scale two months after hospitalisation for an ACS event. Construct validity was psychometrically evaluated using confirmatory factor analysis. Additionally, convergent and discriminant validity were tested using correlation analyses.

Results: The results revealed that the CSE Scale was represented by three dimensions (control symptoms, control illness and maintain functioning). The analyses also showed that the CSE Scale is suitable for providing a total summary score that represents a global cardiac self-efficacy dimension. Evaluation of convergent and discriminant validity showed the expected correlations.

Conclusion: The CSE Scale is a valid and reliable measure when evaluating self-efficacy in patients with ACS. It also seems to be a useful tool to promote person-centred care in clinical practice since it may offer useful guidance in the dialogue with the patient in the common creation of a personal health plan.