Psychometric testing of the short-form Chinese version of the self-management for adolescents with type 1 diabetes scale

Self-management among adolescents with type 1 diabetes (T1D) is poorer than in other age groups during childhood. A valid and reliable short-form scale to measure self-management in adolescents with T1D is prudent for enhancing their self-management in clinical settings. We used a cross-sectional design to develop a short-form Chinese version of the Self-Management of Type 1 Diabetes for Adolescents Scale (C-SMOD-A) and test its psychometric characteristics. Two hundred adolescents with T1D were recruited from four hospitals in Taiwan through convenience sampling. Content validity, exploratory factor analysis, and corrected item-total correlations were used to shorten the 52-item C-SMOD-A. Confirmatory factor analysis, criterion-related validity, and reliability testing were used to examine the psychometric characteristics of the short-form C-SMOD-A. Finally, the 23-item C-SMOD-A (C-SMOD-A-23) with five inter-correlated factors was developed. Glycated hemoglobin levels were significantly associated with each subscale of the C-SMOD-A-23 with correlation coefficients ranging from -0.18 to -0.31. The composite reliability and test-retest reliability of the five subscales ranged from 0.70 to 0.88 and from 0.78 to 0.93 respectively. Accordingly, the C-SMOD-A-23 has acceptable validity and reliability to measure five specific domains of self-management for adolescents with T1D. Health-care providers could use the C-SMOD-A-23 as a clinical reference to assess specific domains of self-management and provide interventions to enhance self-management for adolescents with T1D.