Translation And Psychometric Testing of The Simplified Version of The Health-Related Diet And Exercise Self-Efficacy Scale In China

Background: Measuring health-related diet and exercise self-efficacy is an important first step in improving healthy behaviors and health outcomes. However, we did not find a self-efficacy measurement in Chinese that is specifically targeted at diet and exercise self-efficacy among healthy adults. Aim: The present study aimed to translate the Health-Related Diet and Exercise Self-Efficacy Scale -simplified version into Mandarin Chinese (HRDESES) and evaluate its reliability and validity in Chinese healthy adults. Methods: : The HRDESES was translated and adapted to the Chinese context, with a good content validity of 0.86 among seven experts. The survey was then carried out in 216 adults in Hunan, China. Testing of the reliability included internal consistency reliability and test-retest reliability, while validity included content validity, construct validity, and criterion validity. Results: : The Cronbach's α of the HRDESES was 0.87 for the total scale, 0.86 for the diet subscale and 0.91 for the exercise subscale, demonstrating good internal consistency. The test-retest reliability was 0.88 for the total scale, 0.81 for the diet subscale and 0.82 for the exercise subscale, demonstrating good test-retest reliability. For construct validity, the scale effectively distinguished subjects by age, gender, education, occupation, marital status, and family income, showing good discriminant validity. Both exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported a two-factor structure of the scale: diet and exercise subscale. Finally, the HRDESES was highly associated with the General Self-Efficacy Scale, with a correlation coefficient of 0.86 ( p <0.05), demonstrating high criterion validity. Conclusion: The HRDESES had good reliability and validity and could be used as a simple and effective tool for assessing the health-related diet and exercise self-efficacy in Chinese healthy adults.