Adolescent health promotion scale: development and psychometric testing

Area of Science:

• Health Promotion
• Adolescent Health
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Adolescent lifestyles significantly impact long-term health outcomes.
• Accurate assessment tools are crucial for effective health promotion interventions.
• The Adolescent Health Promotion scale (AHP) was developed to address this need.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the psychometric properties of the newly developed Adolescent Health Promotion (AHP) scale.
• To confirm the construct validity and reliability of the AHP scale in a Taiwanese adolescent population.
• To establish the AHP scale as a dependable instrument for detecting unhealthy lifestyles in adolescents.

Main Methods:

• The study involved 1,128 Taiwanese adolescents completing the 40-item AHP self-report scale.
• Psychometric properties were assessed using item analysis, factor analysis (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin, Bartlett's test), and reliability measures (Cronbach's alpha).
• Content validity was supported by expert review and prior research.

Main Results:

• Factor analysis identified six key factors: social support, life appreciation, health responsibility, nutritional behaviors, exercise behaviors, and stress management, explaining 51.14% of the variance.
• The overall Cronbach's alpha for the AHP scale was 0.932, indicating high reliability.
• Subscale reliability coefficients ranged from 0.75 to 0.88, demonstrating good internal consistency.

Conclusions:

• The Adolescent Health Promotion (AHP) scale exhibits robust construct validity and reliability among Taiwanese adolescents.
• The AHP scale is a suitable instrument for school health nurses to assess adolescent health promotion programs.
• Findings support the use of the AHP scale for identifying unhealthy lifestyles and informing targeted health interventions in adolescents.