BACKGROUND: Although China has the largest population of persons with dementia, there is no validated tool available to accurately assess formal caregivers' competence in dementia care in long-term care settings. Appropriately assessing nursing staff's level of competence in dementia care is the first step to develop precision training interventions to improve the quality of dementia care. The Sense of Competence in Dementia Care Staff scale (SCIDS) is a user-friendly tool with satisfactory reliability and validity. We adapted SCIDS into a Chinese version (SCIDS-C) and validated its uses in China's socio-cultural context to assess nursing staff's capability and competence in dementia care at nursing homes. AIMS: We aimed to adapt and psychometrically test the tool among frontline nursing staff in long-term care settings in China. METHODS: The research employed a correlational design with repeated measures. In translation section, we adapted and tailored the original scale in the cultural and social context in China's nursing homes. The scale's adaptation consists of translating adaptation and semantic equivalence. In psychometric testing phase, we tested the validity and reliability of the scale with 174 nursing staff conveniently from six nursing homes. Construct validity was tested using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), including principal component analysis and maximum variance rotation method. Reliability was tested using Cronbach's alpha value and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). RESULTS: The SCIDS-C has 17 items, which belong to the two sub-scales, the Relationship-Centered Care(RCC) and Professional Care(PC). The Cronbach's alpha value was 0.88, showing a good internal consistency. The full scale's value of ICC was 0.94 which indicated good reliability. Exploratory factor analysis(EFA) extracted 2 common factors in each sub-scale, cumulative variance contribution rate was 56.71% and 53.92%, respectively. The named four factors are the same as the Sense of Competence in Dementia Care Staff (SCIDS) scale in English, including Building Relationships, Sustaining Personhood, Professionalism and Care Challenges. CONCLUSION: The SCIDS-C has shown good reliability and validity. It can be used as an appropriate tool to evaluate the competence of nursing care staff to provide dementia care for residents in nursing homes.
