How to effectively solve the problem of energy poverty from the perspective of digital economy is a topic worthy of attention. As a new economic form characterized by information technology, does the digital economy have an important impact on energy poverty? What is the inner mechanism? Based on the theoretical analysis of the internal mechanism of the impact of the digital economy on energy poverty, this paper systematically investigates the impact of the digital economy on energy poverty by establishing a mediation effect model, spatial autocorrelation test, and heterogeneity analysis, taking 30 provinces in China as the research object. The study found that: (1) the digital economy has a significant mitigation effect on energy poverty, there are regional differences, and the mitigation effect is more obvious under a high level of digital economic development; (2) financial development is one of the mechanisms involved in alleviating energy poverty, and only the intermediary effect in the eastern region is significant; (3) energy poverty has a gradually increasing positive spatial correlation and obvious spatial agglomeration characteristics. Finally, this research provides policy implications for fully realizing the potential of the role of the digital economy and financial development, thereby alleviating energy poverty.

Background: The Difficulties in the Daily Life of patients with osteoarthritis of the knee Scale (DDLKOS) was developed in Japan to assess difficulties in daily living in KOA patients with appropriate psychometric properties. In mainland China, there is no validated assessment tool to evaluate difficulties in daily life for KOA patients. It is essential to introduce the DDLKOS in mainland China and to further explore its measurement properties. In this study, the DDLKOS was successfully adapted cross-culturally to provide a tool for assessing difficulties in daily life for Chinese KOA patients. Methods: The Japanese version of the original DDLKOS scale was cross-culturally translated according to international Guidelines for the process of cross-cultural adaptation. Measurement properties (content validity, construct validity and reliability) were tested in accordance with the COSMIN checklists. A total of 450 patients were included in this study, and 40 participants with KOA participated a second visit two weeks later. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and principal factor analysis (PCA) were applied to test the factor structure. Cronbach’s alpha and an intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) were calculated for internal consistency and reproducibility. A methodological study of the translation and validation of the DDLKOS was conducted from April to December 2022. It involved three phases: (1) the translation and revision of the scale; (2) the exploration and evaluation of the item (n=180); (3) the psychometric evaluation of the scale (n=270). Results: After a rigorous translation and revision, the Chinese version of DDLKOS with three dimensions and 14 items was finally formed. In this study, the critical ratios of the item ranged from 4.828 to 13.533, and the item-total correlation coefficients ranged from 0.577 to 0.690, and the factor loadings of the item ranged from 0.559 to 0.818. The content validity index (I-CVI) at the item level ranged from 0.818 to 1, and the content validity index (S-CVI) at the scale level was 0.909. For exploratory factor analysis, the three-factor structure explained the cumulative 60.019% of the overall variance. As the results of confirmatory factor analysis, all the recommended fitting indexes were appropriate. The average variance extracted values ranged from 0.589 to 0.702, and the composite reliability values ranged from 0.881 to 0.904. The total Cronbach’s α coefficient, split-half reliability coefficient and test–retest reliability coefficient of the scale were 0.814, 0.784 and 0.796, respectively. The results showed that the Chinese version of DDLKOS had an acceptable model fit superiority index and good structural validity. Conclusion: The Chinese version of DDLKOS was successfully introduced into China, showing good psychometric properties among KOA patients, and can effectively assess the difficulties in the daily life ofKOA patient. Also, the adaption of DDLKOS can provide a basis for the development of self-management strategies for patients with knee osteoarthritis in China.