Development and validation of a Malay version questionnaire for assessing risk perception of type 2 diabetes (RPDM)

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Psychology
• Medical Sociology

Background:

• Global rise in type 2 diabetes necessitates understanding risk perception for effective prevention.
• Risk perception influences lifestyle choices and engagement with preventive health interventions.
• Malaysian context requires culturally specific tools to assess type 2 diabetes risk perception.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a Malay-language questionnaire to assess risk perception of type 2 diabetes (RPDM) among Malaysians.
• To provide a reliable instrument for understanding factors influencing diabetes risk perception in Malaysia.

Main Methods:

• Questionnaire development based on the Health Belief Model and literature review.
• Expert review and pretesting of a 59-item pool.
• Pilot (n=100) and validation (n=158) studies using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA).

Main Results:

• EFA identified a 48-item, five-factor model with good factor loadings (>0.40).
• CFA confirmed acceptable model fit, sufficient convergent and discriminant validity.
• Construct reliability values ranged from 0.76 to 0.90.

Conclusions:

• The validated Malay-language RPDM questionnaire is reliable for measuring five constructs of type 2 diabetes risk perception.
• This tool can enhance understanding of diabetes risk perception among Malaysians.
• The questionnaire supports improved diabetes prevention communication between healthcare providers and patients.