Sense of community index scale: Translation, cultural adaptation, and validation of the Chinese version – a cross-sectional study

This study translates and adapts the English version of the sense of community index (SCI) into Chinese and evaluates its reliability and validity. The Chinese version of the SCI was created through translation and revision. A convenience sampling method was used to select 351 elderly community residents, who completed the reliability and validity assessment of the scale. The Chinese version of the SCI includes 16 items. Principal component analysis with orthogonal rotation extracted 4 factors, accounting for a cumulative variance of 66.619%. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that the chi-square/degree of freedom ratio (CMIN/DF) was 1.644, the goodness-of-fit index was 0.902, the comparative fit index was 0.941, the incremental fit index was 0.942, the Tucker-Lewis index was 0.926, the root mean square error of approximation was 0.060, and the root mean residual was 0.040. Standardized regression coefficients ranged from 0.542 to 0.798. The composite reliability for each dimension ranged from 0.726 to 0.825, while the average variance extracted ranged from 0.401 to 0.541. The Cronbach α coefficient for the entire scale was 0.854, with a Guttman split-half reliability of 0.811. The Cronbach α coefficients for individual dimensions ranged from 0.767 to 0.852. The revised Community Awareness Index Scale exhibits strong reliability and validity, making it a reliable instrument for assessing and researching community awareness among elderly individuals in community settings.