Chinese Breast Cancer Screening Beliefs Questionnaire: development and psychometric testing with Chinese-Australian women

Abstract

Aim: This paper is a report of the development and psychometric testing of the Chinese Breast Cancer Screening Beliefs Questionnaire, a culturally sensitive questionnaire for measuring Chinese-Australian women's beliefs, knowledge and attitudes towards breast cancer and breast screening practices.

Background: Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer morbidity among Chinese-Australian women. They are, however, 50% less likely to participate in all types of breast examination. A valid and reliable instrument to explore the breast cancer beliefs is essential for the development of interventions to promote breast cancer screening practices.

Method: Items for the questionnaire were drawn from a literature review and in-depth interviews. A panel of professional experts and lay women evaluated face and content validity. The instrument was translated from English to Chinese using back-translation. In 2008, a total of 292 Chinese-Australian women aged 22-78 years who were resident of Australia were included in testing the instrument. Multi-trait analysis and Cronbach's alpha were used to assess internal consistency reliability and exploratory factor analysis assessed construct validity.

Results: The final 13-item questionnaire had satisfactory validity and internal consistency. Cronbach's alpha for the total scale was 0.76, and for the three subscales ranged from 0.70 to 0.79. Exploratory factor analysis showed that the scale reduced to three factors.

Conclusion: Preliminary data suggest that the Chinese Breast Cancer Screening Beliefs Questionnaire is a valid, reliable and culturally sensitive instrument for the measurement of Chinese-Australian women's beliefs, knowledge and attitudes about breast cancer and breast cancer screening.