Development and investigation of the psychometric properties of the rehabilitation resilience scale (RRS) for caregivers of children with cerebral palsy

To develop a rehabilitation resilience scale (RRS) for caregivers of children with cerebral palsy (CP) and to examine its reliability and validity. This study was conducted in three phases. Phase I involved item development through a literature review and semi-structured interviews, followed by Delphi expert consultations. In phase II, a pilot survey was conducted with 50 caregivers to evaluate item clarity, comprehensibility, and acceptability. Phase III involved a large-scale psychometric evaluation with 436 participants, including item selection and analyses of validity and reliability. Two rounds of Delphi consultation yielded strong expert agreement. The final scale comprised 47 items across seven dimensions. Psychometric testing demonstrated a content validity index of 0.973. Exploratory factor analysis showed a 7-factor structure, accounting for 70.139% of the total variance. Confirmatory factor analysis further supported the robustness of the 7-factor, 47-item structure. The overall Cronbach's α of the scale was 0.952, with the dimension-level Cronbach's α values ranging from 0.837 to 0.947. The test-retest reliability was 0.866 (4-week-interval). The 47-item RRS demonstrates robust psychometric properties and represents a reliable and valid instrument for assessing rehabilitation resilience among caregivers of children with CP.