title: Factorial invariance found in survey instrument measuring arthritis-related health beliefs among African-Americans and Whites.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Reliable and valid instruments for measuring health beliefs related to arthritis and total joint arthroplasty (TJA) are lacking. The present study examined the factorial invariance of an Arthritis-related Health Belief Instrument (AHBI) that measures four constructs: severity of arthritis, susceptibility of arthritis to get worse, and perceived benefits and barriers of TJA.
  
  
  METHODS
  In an urban primary care clinic setting, African-American (AA) and White (W) patients (n=664) with at least a moderately severe degree of osteoarthritis completed the AHBI. For the cross-sectional data on the first 120 enrolled participants, exploratory factor analysis was performed to derive the initial factor structures. For the remaining 544 participants, single-group and multi-group confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were performed to assess factorial invariance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The CFA analyses revealed that a four-factor model was invariant across race.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings of invariance across race support the use of the AHBI to measure ethnic group differences in health beliefs as they relate to arthritis and TJA. Future analyses should continue to assess other aspects of reliability and validity of the AHBI.
authors.affiliation: Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, 1110 West Michigan Street, Room 545, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA. dang@iupui.edu
authors.forename: Dennis C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Ang
authors.forename: Jianzhao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Patrick O
authors.initials: PO
authors.lastname: Monahan
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D019643:Arthroplasty, Replacement / Q000523:psychology; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010003:Osteoarthritis / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery; D011594:Psychometrics; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology*