Assessing a person’s capacity to engage in self-care behaviours is another added value in identifying one’s potential to care for oneself in the health domain that contributes to planning person-centred care. This study aimed to translate, adapt, and validate the Exercise of Self-Care Agency (ESCA) Scale by Kearney and Fleischer, revised by Riesch and Hauck for the Portuguese version, using a sample of 625 elderly people living at home in Portugal. A cross-cultural adaptation process follows the stages of translation, synthesis, back-translation, and consensual solution for the translation process and pretesting. Construct validity was tested using exploratory factor analysis, and factor structure was subjected to confirmatory factor analysis. Reliability was determined by analysing internal consistency, resorting to Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. This resulted in an instrument formed of 29 items, keeping the factor structure conceptually aligned with the underlying theory. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient values were 0.87 for the global scale and varied between 0.65 and 0.84 for the subscales. The final four-factor model showed an acceptable quality of fit. The Portuguese version of the ESCA shows appropriate validity and reliability for use in future research and health contexts.

The purpose of this methods article was to describe and evaluate outreach and engagement strategies designed to initially build county‐wide awareness and support for the National Children's Study (NCS or the study) and subsequently to target the segment communities where recruitment for the study occurred. Selected principles from community outreach, social marketing, and health care system and personal referral formed the foundation for the strategies. The strategies included a celebration event, community advisory board, community needs assessment, building relationships with health care providers and systems, eliciting a network of study supporters, newsletters, appearances at local young family‐oriented events (health fairs, parades), presentations to local community leaders, community forums, “branding” with assistance from a women‐owned local marketing firm, and mailings including an oversized, second‐touch postcard. Six months after study launch, approximately 4,600 study‐eligible women were asked in a door‐to‐door survey if and how they became aware of the study. On average, 40% of eligible women reported being aware of the study. The most frequently cited strategy to cultivate their awareness was study‐specific mailings. Awareness of the NCS increased by 7.5% among those receiving a second‐touch postcard relative to controls (95% CIs [4.9, 10.7] z = 5.347, p < 0.0000, d = 0.16). Community outreach and engagement strategies, in particular the oversized postcard as a second‐touch effort, may be used effectively by researchers for participant recruitment and by public health nurses for delivery of important population‐focused messages.