BACKGROUND

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is an important health problem that leads to severe complications, is the cause of early death, and is showing an increase in frequency. The development of positive health behaviors is extremely important in the treatment of diabetic patients. There are various models that examine the health behaviors of individuals. One of these is the Health Belief Model. This model is very beneficial in explaining factors that affect patients' compliance with their disease.

PURPOSE

This research was planned to measure the validity and reliability of the Health Belief Model Scale in diabetic patients in the Turkish population.

DESIGN

Questionnaire Survey.

SETTINGS

The research population was all of the diabetic patients (4,125) registered with the Turkish Diabetes Society, Denizli Province, Turkey.

PARTICIPANTS

A convenience sample was composed of 352 patients with Type 2 DM.

METHODS

The research data were collected with three tools, a "sociodemographic data form" related to the diabetic patients, the "Health Belief Model Scale in Diabetic Patients," and the "Diabetes Management Self-Efficacy Scale."For validity studies: language validity, content validity, concurrent validity and construct validity were examined. For reliability studies: the tool's internal consistency reliability, Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient, test-retest reliability were examined.

RESULTS

The tool's internal consistency reliability subscales' Cronbach alpha coefficient values ranged from 0.73 to 0.86. For the total tool a Cronbach alpha value of 0.89 was found. In the tool's internal consistency reliability total item correlation the three items that were below 0.30 were removed and the 36 items were reduced to 33 items. The tool's test-retest reliability was 0.90. According to factor analysis the tool contains five subscales of perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers and recommended healthy behaviors.

CONCLUSION

The Health Belief Model Scale in diabetic patients was determined to be valid and reliable for use in the Turkish population.