To Chinesize and to test its reliability and validity of the Social Integration in Later Life Scale(SILLS),and to establish a norm.

According to Brislin's classic back-translation model,the Social Integration in Later Life Scale was translated,back-translated,and culturally adjusted to form a Chinese version of the Social Integration in Later Life Scale.From July to September 2024,a conveniencesampling method was used toselect 373 elderly community-dwelling residents in Shanghai city for asurvey to evaluate the reliability and validity of thescale.From October to December 2024,a conveniencesampling method was used to investigate 1 158 elderly residents in 6 community hospitals in China and to establish a norm for thescale.

The Chinese version of the the Social Integration in Later Life Scale includes four dimensions:satisfaction withsocial relationships,satisfaction withsocial activities,involvement insocial relationships,and participation insocial activities,with a total of 18 items.The answering time for thescale was(7.37±1.93) minutes.The correlation coefficient between thescores of each item on thescale and the totalscore was 0.45-0.74(P<0.01).The content validity index at thescale level was 0.98.The content validity index at thescale item level was 0.83-1.00.Four common factors with eigenvalues>1 were extracted,with a cumulative variance contribution rate of 70.00%.The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the totalscale was 0.89.The Cronbach's alpha coefficients of the four dimensions were 0.85-0.89.The mean norm of the totalscore among community-dwelling older adults in Jiangsu,Zhejiang,and Shanghai was(56.58±11.78).The normative data werestratified by gender and age groups.Percentile norms were established at 5% intervals for the four dimensions and the totalscale.Utilising x-s,x-0.5s,x+0.5s,and x+s as cut-off points,social integration levels were categorised into five distinct level,namely low,relatively low,moderate,relatively high,and high.

The Chinese version of Social Integration in Later Life Scale was ascientific and feasible measurement tool.The Social Integration in Later Life Scale norms provided a reliable basis for evaluating thesocial integration level of the older adults in China.