title: Development of an instrument based on the protection motivation theory to measure factors influencing women's intention to first pap test practice.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Given that there are many Iranian women who have never had a Pap smear, this study was designed to develop and validate a measurement tool based on the Protection Motivation Theory to assess factors influencing the Iranian women's intention to perform first Pap testing.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this psychometric research, to determine the Content Validity Index (CVI) and the Content Validity Ratio (CVR), a panel of experts (n=10) reviewed scale items. Reliability was estimated through the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (n=30) and internal consistency (n=240). Also, factor analysis (exploratory and conformity) was performed on the data of the sample women who had never had a Pap smear test (n=240).
  
  
  RESULTS
  A 26-item questionnaire was developed. The CVI and CVR scores of the scale were 0.89 and 0.90, respectively. Exploratory factor analysis loaded a 26-item with seven factors questionnaire (perceived vulnerability and severity, fear, response costs, response efficacy, self-efficacy, and protection motivation (or intention)) that jointly accounted for 72.76% of the observed variance. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good fit for the data. Internal consistency (range 0.70-0.93) and test-retest reliability (range 0.72-0.96) of sub-scales were acceptable.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed that the designed instrument was a valid and reliable tool for measuring the factors influencing the women's intention to perform their first Pap testing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Education and Health Promotion, Faculty of Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran E-mail : dehdari.t@Iums.ac.ir, dehdarit@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Lale
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hassani
authors.forename: Tahereh
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dehdari
authors.forename: Ebrahim
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hajizadeh
authors.forename: Davoud
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shojaeizadeh
authors.forename: Mehrandokht
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abedini
authors.forename: Saharnaz
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nedjat
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003657:Decision Making; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D007492:Iran; D009042:Motivation; D065006:Papanicolaou Test; D011594:Psychometrics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014626:Vaginal Smears / Q000523:psychology*