Reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the Worry Scale

Shiu, A.T.Y. and Wong, R.Y.M. (2004) Reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the Worry Scale. Public Health Nursing, 21 (3), 257-265. (doi:10.1111/j.0737-1209.2004.21308.x).

Abstract

This article presents the findings on the development and validation of a Chinese version of the Worry Scale (WS), a measure of worry about hypoglycemia. A previously developed 16-item WS was back-translated and applied to 117 Chinese diabetic patients living in Hong Kong. An iterative process of factor and item analyses identified a unidimensional 10-item Chinese WS (WS-10), which accounted for 57.15% of the total variance. Cronbach's alpha was 0.91. Strong correlation was demonstrated between the WS-10 and WS with 16 items (r = 0.97, p = 0.000). Comparing the level of worry about hypoglycemia between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetic patients established a contrast-group validity of the WS-10 (p = 0.002). Criterion validity was established by correlating the WS-10 with the respondents' glycosylated hemoglobin (r = ?0.29, p = 0.002). Test-retest reliability using intraclass correlation (ICC) was established, ICC(1, 1) = 0.68. As the clinical administration of this scale takes less than 5 min, the Chinese WS-10 offers a useful instrument to identify patients with high levels of worry about hypoglycemia for clinical and education interventions. It also provides public health nurses with a reliable and valid prepost measure of intervention effectiveness. The Chinese WS-10 will facilitate further research about the effects of worry concerning hypoglycemia on self-care behaviors with the Chinese populations.

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