title: The development and psychometric testing of a self-care scale for dysmenorrhic adolescents.
abstract: The purposes of this research were to develop and test a self-care scale for dysmenorrhic adolescents. A focus group was employed to obtain information on dysmenorrhic self-care behavior of adolescents. A convenience sample of 361 adolescent girls aged 13-18 were employed who had experienced cramping pain in the lower abdomen during their menstrual periods at least two times within the 6 months prior to the study. Cronbach' s alpha of the scale was found to be 0.89 and both content and construct validity were addressed by a contrast-groups approach and confirmatory factor analysis. It was concluded that the resulting scale was both reliable and valid.
authors.affiliation: University of Hawii at Manoa, USA.
authors.forename: Hsieh
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ching-Hsing
authors.forename: Gau
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Meei-Ling
authors.forename: Mao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hsin-Chun
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chung-Yi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D004412:Dysmenorrhea / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D011594:Psychometrics; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012648:Self Care / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D013624:Taiwan