Abstract
Background Reliable and valid instruments are essential to understand and enhance community resilience in China, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study analyzed the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Communities Advancing Resilience Toolkit (CART-C), in order to provide a measurement that can further enhance community resilience in China. Methods A cross-sectional data was collected from three provinces of China from November to December 2022 using an online platform for questionnaire surveys. The total of 1,936 valid questionnaires were collected. Internal consistency reliability and convergent and discriminant validity were assessed, and confirmatory factor analysis was performed. Results The results showed the CART-C had adequate internal consistency, with the sub-scales and total scale presenting with good reliability values (Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranged from 0.819 to 0.886 and 0.960, respectively), and the results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that adequate fit to data, yielding a 24-item, five-factor structure (all intercorrelated) as follows: χ2/df = 2.812, comparative fit index = 0.992, goodness-of-fit index = 0.981, Tucker-Lewis index = 0.989, Adjusted goodness-of-ft index(AGFI) = 0.973, and root mean square error of approximation = 0.027. Conclusion The findings suggest that CART-C is a valid and reliable measure to assess community resilience and will be useful in policy making for community preparedness for disaster events.