The development and testing of the pelvic floor muscle exercise self-efficacy scale

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to establish a reliable and valid instrument to evaluate women' s confidence in performing pelvic floor muscle exercise (PFME). Based on the researcher' s own experience and with extended literature review, social cognitive theory and a health promotion model were utilized to formulate the 17-item Chen pelvic floor muscle exercise self-efficacy (PFMSE) scale. Data were collected from 106 urinarily incontinent women and the reliability and validity of the scale were tested. The results showed that the scale has a high Cronbach' s alpha of .95 for its internal consistency. Test-retest reliability over 6-30 days was r = .86 (p < .001), showing acceptable stability of the Chen PFMSE scale. Exploratory factor analysis was used to test the initial construct validity, and two factors were extracted, which explained 34.16% and 32.55% of the total variance respectively, with a total of 66.71% . The two factors were named as (1) belief in PFME execution and its benefits, and (2) belief in performing PFME as scheduled and despite barriers. It is also evident that the Chen PFMSE scale satisfies concurrent validity when compared with well-developed and tested instruments such as general self-efficacy ( GSE), perceived PFME benefits, and incontinence impact questionnaire-7 (IIQ-7). The results suggest that the Chen PFMSE scale has solid psychometric properties, and is a useful tool for clinicians to design appropriate interventions and to foster positive PFME self-efficacy during treatment for women with urinary incontinence and undergoing PFME training.