Objective To develop a continuity of care needs scale for postoperative colorectal cancer surgery patients and evaluate its reliability and validity, aiming to provide more personalized and continuous nursing services.

Methods Guided by the neo-humanistic needs theory, an initial scale was constructed through a review of domestic and international literature, supplemented by semi-structured interviews and two rounds of Delphi expert consultation. A total of 203 colorectal cancer surgery patients treated between May 2022 to July 2024 were enrolled for questionnaire survey to assess the scale's reliability and validity.

Results The finalized scale comprised 24 items across five dimensions. The scale demonstrated a Cronbach's α coefficient of 0.883 and a test-retest reliability of 0.907. Exploratory factor analysis extracted five common factors, cumulatively accounting for 66.534% of the total variance. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated acceptable model fit χ²/df=3.107, comparative fit index(CFI)=0.874, incremental fit index(IFI)=0.872, Tucker-Lewis index(TLI)=0.828, root mean square error of approximation(RMSEA)=0.078. The average variance extracted (AVE) values ranged from 0.623 to 0.738 (>0.5), and composite reliability (CR) values ranged from 0.902 to 0.942 (>0.7), indicating satisfactory convergent validity. The square roots of AVE values (0.789 to 0.859) exceeded inter-dimensional correlations, supporting discriminant validity. The item-level content validity index (I-CVI) ranged from 0.867 to 1.000, and the scale-level content validity index (S-CVI) was 0.969, confirming good content validity.

Conclusion The developed continuity of care needs scale for postoperative colorectal cancer surgery patients exhibits good reliability and validity, and can be used as a measurement tool for assessing continuity of care needs in this population.