Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of Champion’s Health Belief Model Scale for Colorectal Cancer Screening

Background: Colorectal cancer is a serious health problem. Early detection of colorectal cancer is crucialfor treatment and reducing mortality. Beliefs related to colorectal cancer have been found to be a factor in aperson’s decision about colorectal cancer screening programs. To determine such beliefs, a valid and reliableinstrument is necessary.
Objective:The aim of this study was to adapt and determine the psychometric propertiesof the Persian version of Champion’s Health Belief Model Scale of breast cancer screening in the measurement ofbeliefs toward colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. Materials and
Methods: The ‘forward-backward’ procedurewas applied to translate the instrument from English into Persian. This study was conducted in Iran from June2012 to May 2013. A convenience sample of 200 individuals aged 50 years and older was recruited from thepopulation at the outpatient clinics in the three teaching hospitals. Validity was assessed using content, face andconstruct validity. To test reliability, the internal consistency was assessed by using Cronbach’s alpha coefficientand test-retest (intraclass correlation coefficient) analyses. Exploratory factor analysis was used to assess theconstruct validity and determine the factors of adapted Champion’s Health Belief Model Scale.
Results: Themean age of the participants were 62.5 years (SD=10.8 years) and the majority of them (75.5 percent) werefemale. The results of exploratory factor analysis indicated a six-factor solution for the questionnaire (benefits,motivation and confidence, seriousness, susceptibility, emotional barriers and background barriers) that jointlyaccounted for 55.52% of variance observed. Cronbach’s alpha of the subscales ranged from 0.57 to 0.89 andtest-retest reliability ranged from 0.81 to 0.93 indicating a good range of reliability.
Conclusions: The findingsof this study suggest that the Persian version of Champion’s Health Belief Model Scale of CRC screening hasgood psychometric properties and could be an appropriate measure for health beliefs related to CRC screeningin national and international studies.