Development of a Dietary Habit Self-Management Skills Scale for Post-Gastrectomy Cancer Patients in Japan

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to develop a Dietary Habit Self-Management Skill (DHSMS) scale, and to test the reliability and validity of this scale. Methods: A questionnaire survey was then conducted using a 69-item DHSMS scale (second draft) for which content validity had been confirmed. The participants were post-gastrectomy cancer patients aged from 40 to under 80 years who had undergone initial gastrectomy with an interval of from 1 month since discharge to <3 years post-operative. Results: The scale is a second-order factor model with “Dietary habit self-management skills” as a higher-order factor, four factors—”Skill to form partnerships with other important people”, “Skill to prevent or cope with post-gastrectomy disorder”, “Skill to grasp issues accompanying post-gastrectomy disorder”, and “Self-efficacy”—and 27 items. The construct validity of the scale was confirmed. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the DHSMS scale was 0.915. The criterion- related validity of the DHSMS scale was confirmed based on the correlations between overall DHSMS scale scores and “Number of post-gastrectomy disorder symptoms experienced”, the score for the subscale “Skill to grasp issues accompanying post-gastrectomy disorder” and “Number of post-gastrectomy disorder symptoms experienced”, and the subscale “Self-efficacy” and the SF-8. Discussion: By using patients’ self-administered DHSMS scale scores, medical professionals are able to assess the level of a patient’s self-management skills and the status of their dietary habits as a result of post-gastrectomy disorder.