Reliability and validity of Chinese version of Sense of Community Index Scale in the elderly in the community

Objective To translate the Sense of Community Index(SCI) into Chinese, and to measure its reliability and validity. Methods The Chinese version of SCI(C-SCI) was translated and revised, and 351 community elders were selected by convenient sampling method to complete the reliability and validity evaluation of the scale. Results The C-SCI included 16 items. Four factors are obtained by principal component analysis and orthogonal rotation of square error. The cumulative variance contribution rate is 66.619%. The confirmatory factor analysis(CFA) indicated that the value of relative chi-square(CMIN/DF), goodness-of-fit index(GFI), comparative fit index(CFI), incremental fit index(IFI), tucker-Lewi index(TLI), root mean square error of approximation(RMSEA), root of the mean square residual(RMR) and the standardization regression coefficient were 1.644, 0.902, 0.941, 0.942, 0.926, 0.060, 0.040, 0.542-0.798, respectively. The combined reliability(CR) of each dimension is 0.726-0.825, the average variance extracted(AVE) is 0.401-0.541. The Cronbach'α and the split-half reliability coefficient of Guttman the whole scale were 0.854 and 0.811, respectively. The Cronbach'α of each dimension were 0.767-0.852. Conclusion The revised C-SCI shows acceptable reliability and validity. It can be used to evaluate and research the communication ability in the elderly in the community.