A reliable and valid instrument for understanding patients' perceptions of nurses' caring behaviour as well as assessing the quality of nursing care is necessary. The purpose of this study was to assess the reliability and validity of a Chinese version of the Caring Assessment Report Evaluation Q-sort (CARE-Q) Scale for the measurement of patients' perceptions of nurses' caring behaviours. The study sample comprised 250 patients from a medical centre in central Taiwan. Content validity, construct validity, internal consistency and stability reliability were assessed. The Content Validity Index of the Chinese version of CARE-Q was 0.90. Cronbach's alpha indicated good internal consistency reliability. Stability reliabilities for the six subscales ranged from 0.83 to 0.92. The results reveal that the Chinese version of the CARE-Q scale for the measurement of patients' perceptions on nurses' caring behaviours indicates high reliability (internal consistency and stability) and good content validity.

© 2012 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.