[Validation of the German Version of Pediatric Self-Efficacy for Diabetes-Type-1 Scale].

Introduction: Since there is no suitable tool for measuring the specific, diabetes-related self-efficacy in children with type-1-diabetes in German language, this paper presents the construction and validation of Pediatric Self-Efficacy for Diabetes-Type-1 Scale (PSEDT-1). The intention was to develop a guideline-compliant, pediatric, revised self-efficacy scale on the basis of Grossman, Brink and Hauser̓s SED.

Design: Children with type 1 diabetes (N=221) were included in a clinical, multi-centre validation study. To assess sensitivity to change, 85 of these children were asked to complete the PSEDT-1 before, immediately after, and 6 months after inpatient diabetes training. PSEDT-1 has been associated with scales that measure constructs that are similar and different in terms of content. The interpretation of the correlation results should provide information on validity. The PSEDT-1 was thus reviewed using the German Multidimensional Self-Assessment Scale (MSWS), the German questionnaire on health and illness-related control beliefs (KKG).

Results: The reliability results showed a good internal consistency with Cronbach's α=0,87; the discriminatory power of the items was acceptable. Exploratory factor analysis identified 4 factors that account for 54% of the variance: 1) diabetes self-management skill, 2) (medical) insulin management competence, 3) (general) self-assertiveness, 4) autonomous self-regulation. The construct validity of PSEDT-1 has been evaluated by estimating its association with other variables. It was possible to verify the theoretically expected correlation patterns. In addition, the study results showed indications of sufficiently high sensitivity to change.

Discussion: The results suggest that PSEDT-1 is a valid and reliable tool that, in addition to the scale values of the competence areas of diabetes self-management, medical management, and general self-assertion, also determines the scale value of autonomous self-regulation to assess diabetes-related self-efficacy.