Development and validation of a measurement scale for self-efficacy for farmers' mastitis prevention in dairy cows

The purpose of this study was twofold. First, we developed and validated the domain-specific Mastitis Prevention Self-Efficacy scale (MPSES), derived from developing a corresponding scale for the General Self-Efficacy Scale and consisting of 10 items describing dairy farmers' feelings of confidence about being able to prevent, reduce and control mastitis, a common infection of the udder. Second, farmers' cognitive assessment of mastitis was used in order to explore the correlation of general and domain-specific self-efficacy. The MPSES was completed by a sample of Swedish fulltime dairy farmers (n = 290) through an online questionnaire. The instrument was found to possess good reliability (Cronbach's alpha α = .90) and correlated well with the S-GSE (r.62). Medium effects was identified by a correlation between the MPSES and farmers' cognitive assessment of time-line (r = 0.3, p < 0.001), and small effects for cure/control (r = .12, p < 0.05) as well as for aspects related to cause (r = .17-.28, p < 0.001) of mastitis. The potential usefulness of this scale in the dairy industry is discussed.