Learning Objective #1: Outline the process to establish the reliability and construct validity of a developed instrument

Learning Objective #2: Understand how Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Cronbach's Alpha established the reliability and validity of this instrument

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Individuals 65 years or older often experience chronic illness, disability, isolation, and cognitive impairments. These factors contribute to more than 600,000 elderly Americans living in assisted living facilities (ALF's). This number is expected to increase 15 to 20 percent each year (Cummings, 2002). Little is known about how individuals adapt to leaving their home and moving into an ALF (Cummings, 2002). The purpose of this study is to demonstrate how the 50 item instrument: Adaptation of Individuals Moving into an Assisted Living Facility (AIMALF) identified the salient factors of sustaining self, living connected to others, and negotiating change in an ALF. An ethnically-diverse convenience sample of 300 adults 55 years and older residing in an ALF in Miami Dade County, Florida was used to validate this instrument (Tinsley & Tinsley, 1987). Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was selected because the qualitative data used to develop the scale items were grounded from data as told by individuals living in three ALFs. This lead the researchers to hypothesize that the scale items would correlate well with the factors of sustaining self, living connected to others, and negotiating change in an ALF. The methodology of CFA examined the interrelationships among the scale items to identify variable clusters and validate those that are closely linked (Burns & Grove, 2001). Cronbach's alpha (coefficient alpha) (Burns & Grove, 2003) was used to confirm the reliability of the scale items and identify major anomalies. The testing of this instrument is an initial step to provide health care professionals with a tool to identify at-risk individuals moving into an ALF.