The development of the Cultural Health Attributions Questionnaire (CHAQ)

Area of Science:

• Health Psychology
• Cultural Psychiatry
• Health Disparities

Background:

• Existing health belief measures inadequately capture the spectrum of beliefs within Latino populations.
• There is a need for culturally relevant instruments to assess health behaviors in diverse communities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate the Cultural Health Attributions Questionnaire (CHAQ) for assessing Latino health beliefs.
• To create a psychometrically sound instrument tailored to the unique cultural context of Latinos.

Main Methods:

• Recruited 340 participants from two major metropolitan areas with significant Latino populations.
• Employed exploratory factor analysis to identify underlying dimensions of health beliefs.
• Assessed construct validity through acculturation measures and initial criterion validity via healthcare behavior prediction.

Main Results:

• Identified two robust 12-item subscales: Equity Attribution and Behavioral-Environmental Attribution.
• Demonstrated construct validity by correlating CHAQ subscales with acculturation levels.
• Showed initial criterion validity through the CHAQ's ability to predict health care behavior.

Conclusions:

• The Cultural Health Attributions Questionnaire (CHAQ) is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring Latino health beliefs.
• CHAQ offers a culturally sensitive approach to understanding health attributions and behaviors in the Latino community.
• This tool can aid researchers and healthcare providers in addressing health disparities among Latinos.