Abstract: Objective To develop a Discharge Readiness Assessment Scale for Patients with Bone Transport and to test its reliability and validity. Methods Meleis transformation theory was referenced, item pool was initially formed through literature review and semi-structured interviews. The items were revised by Delphi expert consultation and pre-survey. In September 2023, 20 patients with bone transport in tertiary grade-A hospital in Guangzhou were selected for a pre-survey to test the readability of the scale. From September to November 2023, a total of 527 patients with bone transport in hospitals in tertiary grade-A hospitals in Guangzhou were selected as the investigation subjects. Item analysis and reliability and validity test of the scale were conducted. Results The Discharge Readiness Assessment Scale for Patients with Bone Transport consisted of 5 dimensions and 30 items. The scale-level content validity index of the scale was 0.951 and the item-level content validity index was 0.790~1.000. Five common factors were extracted by exploratory factor analysis and the cumulative variance contribution rate was 66.963%; confirmatory factor analysis showed that the scale fit well. The average variance extracted of each dimension was 0.563, 0.615, 0.592, 0.614 and 0.572, respectively, and composite reliability 0.885, 0.827, 0.941, 0.905 and 0.842 respectively. The Cronbach's α coefficient of the scale was 0.941. Conclusion Discharge Readiness Assessment Scale for Patients with Bone Transport has good reliability and validity, and can be used as a tool to evaluate discharge readiness of patients with bone transport.

Key words: bone transport, readiness for hospital discharge, Delphi method, reliability, validity, nursing