Design and Validation of the Self-efficacy of Care Questionnaire for Adolescents with Mental Disorders.

Abstract

Background: Self-efficacy of care is based on health-promoting behaviors that are formed through dealing with disease conditions and the ability to treatment adherence and management of complications. This study was conducted to design and validate an assessment tool for adolescents with mental disorders.

Materials and methods: This study employed a mixed-methods approach to develop a questionnaire aimed at measuring self-efficacy of care among adolescents with mental disorders. Content validity was assessed using both qualitative and quantitative methods, while exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, convergent validity, and reliability were evaluated through quantitative approaches. Participants, including nurses, psychologists, and adolescent patients, were selected through convenience sampling. The data was analysed using SPSS (version 25.0, Chicago: SPSS Inc.) and LISREL (version 8.72, Jöreskog and Sörbom, 2005) software.

Results: Initially, an item pool consisting of 87 items was generated based on findings from the original research. Following face and content validation, and subsequent exploratory factor analysis, 28 items across four factors were identified: "health information seeking behavior", "adaptation of life to disease conditions and treatment", "adaptive coping", and "social self-care". The factorial structure of the questionnaire was confirmed through confirmatory factor analysis. Convergent validity, assessed using the General Self-Efficacy Scale, was positive and statistically significant (P < 0.01). The reliability of the questionnaire was high, with a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of α =0.93. Test-retest reliability also confirmed the instrument's stability (r = 0.92). Finally, all indicators specified in the COSMIN checklist were confirmed.

Conclusions: The questionnaire demonstrated strong internal consistency and confirmed construct validity. Therefore, this instrument can be reliably used in both clinical and research practices.