Child's health self-concept scale: its development and psychometric properties

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Psychology
• Child Health Assessment
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Childhood health self-concept influences behaviors.
• Existing measures may not fully capture children's health perceptions.
• The Child's Health Self-Concept Scale (CHSCS) was developed to address this gap.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate the reliability and validity of the Child's Health Self-Concept Scale (CHSCS).
• To assess the psychometric properties of the CHSCS for measuring children's health-related perceptions.

Main Methods:

• Instrument development based on children's perceptions of healthy/unhealthy children.
• Critique, revision, and testing of the CHSCS.
• Reliability and validity estimation using a sample of 940 children.

Main Results:

• The CHSCS demonstrated moderate stability and high internal consistency reliability.
• Evidence of content validity was found for the CHSCS.
• No evidence of construct validity was established for the CHSCS.

Conclusions:

• The CHSCS is a reliable instrument for assessing children's health self-concept.
• Further research is required to establish the construct validity of the CHSCS.
• The CHSCS's utility for nursing research and practice requires additional evaluation.