Abstract
The purpose of this study is to develop and evaluate the content validity of an instrument to measure integration as it relates to adults with a chronic illness.
Self management is in integral component to living successfully with a chronic illness. Self- management includes an active process of learning, practicing, and exploring the skills necessary to create a healthy and emotionally satisfying life. Integration is proposed as an equally important aspect to living successfully with a chronic illness. Integration with respect to living with a chronic illness involves incorporating self-management into activities of daily life, roles, and relationships in addition to accepting the chronic illness and reconciling emotions related to living with a chronic illness. Assisting individuals with a chronic illness with the integration process may facilitate optimal self-management. If self-management behaviors are well-integrated into one's lifestyle and the experience of the chronic illness is integrated into one's self-concept, better physiological, psychosocial, and quality of life outcomes may occur. This theoretical proposition needs empirical testing; yet, without an instrument to measure integration, it is difficult to study the relationship between integration and self-management or to develop and test interventions aimed at supporting integration and optimal self-management.
The specific aims are:
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To establish the construct domain of the concept of integration.
- To generate items for the development of The Integration in Chronic Illness Questionnaire (ICIQ).
- To evaluate the content validity of the items of the ICIQ through input from experts in chronic illness care and research.
This study will employ a mixed method design to complete the stated aims. A qualitative study will be undertaken with adults with various chronic illnesses, asking participants to discuss their experience of assimilating a chronic illness into the context of their lives. Data will be content analyzed to determine dimensions and sub-dimensions of the concept of integration and results from the study will be synthesized with the results of a previously undertaken concept analysis of integration. Next, a pool of items will be generated to capture all dimensions and sub-dimensions of the concept of integration, across a variety of chronic illness experiences. Lastly, content validity will be evaluated for each item, for each dimension and sub-dimension, and for the ICIQ as a whole by a panel of experts in chronic illness care and research. Following item deletions and revisions, a first version of the ICIQ will be drafted for further psychometric testing.
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