BMC Psychology (Mar 2024)

Development and validation of the perceived symptom manageability scale among people living with the human immunodeficiency virus

  • Meilian Xie,
  • Aiping Wang,
  • Zhiyun Zhang,
  • Kerong Wang,
  • Yanping Yu,
  • Xiaojing Ma,
  • Zhaoxia Lin,
  • Zhengli Yu,
  • Jianxue Ke

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-01658-0
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

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Abstract Background “Perceived Symptom Manageability (PSM)” is essential in symptom management among people living with HIV. As a standardized assessment instrument was lacking, we developed a PSM scale for people living with human immunodeficiency virus (PSM-HIV). Methods Data analysis was performed using the sample from HIV-designated medical institutions (N = 540). Psychometric testing, namely reliability and validity, is assessed by unidimensionality, internal consistency, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling. Results The final version of the PSM- HIV scale contained 15 items. This scale was submitted to a principal components analysis with varimax rotation, and three factors were obtained, explained by a total variance of 63.10%. The three factors were named Cognitive-Behavioral, Affective Interaction, and Self-Attitude. The results show that the scale had high reliability, Cronbach’s α of the scale ranged from 0.71 to 0.92, and the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient was 0.88. The structural equation model supports a factor model with the acceptable fit (χ2/df (CMIN/DF) = 2.50, Root Mean square Residual (RMR) = 0.03, Goodness-of-Fit Index (GFI) = 0.93, Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index (AGFI) = 0.90, Normed Fit Index (NFI) = 0.93, Incremental Fit Index (IFI) = 0.96, Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0.96). The average variance extracted was 0.38 ∼ 0.59, and the composite reliability was 0.70 ∼ 0.91, indicating that the convergent validity of the scale is acceptable. Subjects with different stages of the disease reached significance(χ2 = 9.02; df = 2, P<0.05), meaning moderate Known-Groups Comparison Validation. Conclusions The PSM-HIV scale is a valid instrument that measures overall attitude and belief about controlling or coping with HIV-relevant symptoms.

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