Development and Validation of the Children’s Medication Self-Efficacy Scale

This study aims to develop a tool to assess medication self-efficacy in children and validate the reliability and validity of the Children’s Medication Self-Efficacy Scale (CMSES).

Methods

Based on Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy and expert recommendations, four items were developed for the scale. Data were collected from 2,258 Chinese children between May and November 2023. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to determine the scale’s structure, followed by confirmatory factor analysis to validate it. Both convergent and discriminant validity were assessed. The internal consistency reliability of the scale was evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Additionally, latent profile analysis (LPA) and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis were employed to determine the optimal cut-off point for the scale.

Results

The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the CMSES was 0.92. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that the four items could be decomposed into two factors, namely magnitude and strength, which explained 76% of the total variance. Additionally, the scale demonstrated good convergent and discriminant validity. LPA identified three categories of medication self-efficacy among participating children: low (6.9%), medium (40.5%), and high (52.6%). Setting the cut-off point at 16, ROC analysis successfully distinguished children with low medication self-efficacy from others, yielding an area under the curve (AUC) of 88.5% (95% CI: 86.8%-90.2%).

Conclusion

The CMSES is an effective and reliable tool for assessing medication self-efficacy in children.