Development and Validation of a Self-Quantification Scale for Patients With Hypertension

Area of Science:

• Health Sciences
• Psychometrics
• Cardiovascular Health

Background:

• Hypertension self-management is often inadequate.
• Self-quantification tools are increasingly relevant with technological advancements.
• A need exists for a validated scale to measure self-quantification in hypertension management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a self-quantification scale for patients with hypertension.
• To provide a tool for assessing patients' ability to track and manage their condition.
• To enhance individual health outcomes through improved self-management.

Main Methods:

• Scale development based on protection motivation theory, literature review, and qualitative data.
• Psychometric evaluation including validity (content, construct) and reliability (internal consistency, split-half, test-retest) testing.
• Data collected from 360 hypertension patients, analyzed using factor analysis and statistical reliability measures.

Main Results:

• A 30-item, seven-subdomain scale was finalized.
• High reliability was confirmed: Cronbach's α (0.900), split-half (0.743), and test-retest (0.880).
• Strong validity evidence was found, including content validity (S-CVI/Ave=0.922) and construct validity via factor analysis.

Conclusions:

• The developed scale exhibits excellent validity and reliability.
• This new instrument is suitable for measuring self-quantification in patients with hypertension.
• It can serve as a valuable tool to support hypertension self-management.