Development of the Thirst Discomfort Scale: A Validity and Reliability Study

Background: Thirst is a sensation associated with a dry mouth and the desire or craving to drink water. Surgical patients are among those hospitalized individuals who are at high risk of developing both osmotic and hypovolemic thirst.

Objectives: To develop a new measurement tool for evaluating the thirst-related discomfort of surgical patients and to assess its validity and reliability.

Methods: The study population consisted of patients admitted to the surgical clinics of a research hospital in Turkey between January and March 2022. The new measurement tool was developed in several stages: a pilot implementation phase with 51 patients and the main implementation phase with 198 patients. Data were collected by means of face-to-face interviews with patients. Exploratory factor and confirmatory factor analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics, version 22, and IBM SPSS Amos.

Results: The final Thirst Discomfort Scale consisted of 12 items in 3 subdimensions. The Cronbach α values of the scale subdimensions ranged from 0.787 to 0.848, and the Cronbach α value for the scale as a whole was 0.886. The scale explained 66.237% of the total variance of the data.

Conclusion: The Thirst Discomfort Scale consisting of 12 items and 3 subdimensions is a valid and reliable measurement tool for evaluating thirst-related discomfort of surgical patients.