Evidence of structural validity and reliability of the General Self-Efficacy Scale through confirmatory factor analysis in patients with hypertension
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18050/psiquemag.v15i1.4064Keywords:
Self-Efficacy, validity, reliability, hypertensionAbstract
This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the General Self-Efficacy Scale developed by Baessler and Schwarzer in hypertensive patients undergoing treatment at a healthcare facility in Lima. An instrumental study was conducted with a sample of 178 patients. Structural validity was examined through confirmatory factor analysis using the diagonally weighted least squares (DWLS) estimator based on polychoric correlation matrices, which is appropriate for ordinal Likert-type variables. Two measurement models were evaluated: a 10-item model and an 8-item model. The results showed good fit for both models (10-item model: CFI = .99, TLI = .99, RMSEA = .05 [90% CI: .01–.08], SRMR = .06; 8-item model: CFI = .99, TLI = .99, RMSEA = .05 [90% CI: .00–.09], SRMR = .04). Internal consistency was high in both cases (α and ω ranging from .91 to .93). These estimates are interpreted based on the adequate fit of the measurement model, in line with current psychometric approaches. In addition, evidence of convergent validity was observed, with average variance extracted values above .50 in both models. Overall, the findings support the scale's unidimensional structure and provide evidence of its internal consistency and convergent validity in a clinical population.
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