Development of a scale to gain insight into the experience of living with chronic heart failure: The UNAV-Experience of Living with Chronic Heart Failure Scale

Background. To date, there are no tools for the nursing staff to gain systematic insight on the experience lived by patients with chronic heart failure. The objective of this study was to develop a scale for this purpose. Methods. The study was conducted between January 2018 and December 2020 in three Spanish hospitals. The process described by DeVellis was used for the development of the scale. The items were built based on a phenomenological study and a systematic review of the literature. Next, feedback from a panel of experts was obtained, the scale was administered to a sample of patients with chronic heart failure, and a cognitive interview and an observational study were conducted to create the final version of the scale. Results. The first version of the scale had in seven domains and 76 items. After its evaluation by a panel of experts, it was reduced to a second version with six domains and 55 items. Following the administration of Version 2 to 17 patients (58.8% male, mean age 59.53, 70.6% classified as NYHA functional class II), five items were modified and two eliminated. Thus, the third version of the UNAV-CHF Experience Scale was composed of six domains and 53 items. Conclusions. This study presents the development of the UNAV-experience of living with chronic heart failure scale. It is an original and novel instrument that allows systematically explore this experience. A larger -scale study is necessary to confirm the validity of our scale.