NURSING DIAGNOSES AND CONSTRUCT-VALIDITY OF PAIN, SELF-CARE DEFICIT AND IMPAIRED MOBILITY

Construct validity of the concepts of pain, self-care deficit and impa ired mobility was examined in a study of 120 medical-surgical patients . Factors derived from a factor analysis of the empirical signs and sy mptoms were: pain-factor and self-care deficit/impaired mobility-facto r, The pain-factor clearly showed discriminant validity by differentia ting between those with and without Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS)-id entified diagnosis of pain. An overlap between the defining characteri stics of the diagnoses of self-care deficit and impaired mobility has been suggested in the present sample of patients. Limitations of the s tudy and recommendations for further research are described.