Validation for the Children Health Promotion Scale: Development and Psychometric Testing

Abstract

Background: Several investigators have developed health promoting lifestyle instruments for adult population. However, few instruments in Taiwan have focused on health-promoting lifestyle measurements from the perspective of children. Methods:The Children Health Promotion scale (CHP) was developed to focus on health promotion among children. The content validity was supported on the observations of a 6-member panel of experts. Here, based on the responses of 681 Taiwanese children, we examined the construct validity and reliability of the CHP as well as its psychometric properties through factor analysis and reliability measures. Results:The results of Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett's sphericity tests indicated that our sample fulfilled the factor analysis criteria. Moreover, the factor analysis yielded a 6-factor instrument, explaining 52.5% of variance in all 32 items; the 6 factors were myopia prevention, stress management, health maintenance behaviors, nutritional behaviors, physical activities, and basic health-promoting behaviors. The Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient for the total scale was 0.92 and alpha coefficients for the subscales ranged from 0.71 to 0.85. Conclusion:The results of this study indicate that the CHP has satisfactory construct validity and reliability for Taiwanese children. School health providers can therefore use the CHP for children's health promotion efforts.