Impact of Kolcaba Comfort Theory Training on Dyspnea, Function, and Comfort in COPD Patients

It includes four Likert-type options (0=none, 1=mild, 2=moderate, 3=severe). The first seven items of the scale question the physical difficulties caused by dyspnoea in patients by evaluating whether the breath goes to all lungs, whether the patient has shortness of breath, whether there is difficulty in breathing, and whether there is effort while breathing. The remaining five items of the scale focus on the effects of breathing on emotional states such as stress, irritability, depression, distress and restlessness. The maximum score that can be obtained from the physical dimension of the scale is 21 and the maximum score that can be obtained from the emotional dimension is 15. The minimum score that can be obtained from the scale is 0 and the maximum score is 36. An increase in the score obtained from the scale indicates an increase in the severity of dyspnoea in the patient. In the original study of the scale, Cronbach's alpha value was reported as 0.90.

It is a questionnaire that enables the evaluation of functional status and symptoms in daily clinical practice. It consists of 10 questions questioning the last week, scored by the patient between 0-6. It consists of three areas: symptoms, mental status and functional status. The total score is calculated and divided by the number of questions, with a high score indicating a low health status (severity of COPD). The Cronbach's alpha value of the Clinical COPD Questionnaire adapted to the Turkish language was 0.90

Its validity and reliability was performed by Sarıtaş et al. in 2018. It includes the sub-dimensions of comfort, relief (9 items), relaxation (9 items) and overcoming problems (10 items). In the evaluation of the scale consisting of positive and negative items, negative items are reverse coded and summed. The total score obtained is divided by the number of scale items and the mean value is found. The lowest possible value of 1 indicates a low comfort level and the highest value of 6 indicates a high comfort level. Reverse expressions: 2,3,7,8,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,18,20,21,23,24,25,27. The lowest possible value of 1 indicates low comfort and the highest value of 6 indicates high comfort.