Reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the Hypertension Belief Assessment Tool in hypertensive patients

Abstract

Background: Hypertension is prevalent in China. Hypertensive patients suffered from many health problems in life. As time goes by, this will cause them to lack of healthy beliefs. Nevertheless, one’s beliefs about managing their hypertension level and a battery of health habits it is still indistinct. So, it is extremely vital to find a suitable instrument to comprehend the health beliefs of patients and provide seasonable help to keep their body and mind healthy. This Study intended to translate the Hypertension Belief Assessment Tool (HBAT) into Chinese and to explore the validity and reliability of the Chinese version in hypertensive patients. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. We translated the HBAT into Chinese, and tested the validity and reliability of the Chinese version among 325 hypertensive patients. Results: The Cronbach’s α coefficient of the scale was 0.803. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) supported a six-factor structure block for the HBAT, and the model was qualified in our confirmatory factor analysis. With modified confirmatory factor analysis, the fit indices were chi-square/degree of freedom (CMIN/DF) =2.491, comparative fit index (CFI)=0.952, incremental fit index (IFI)=0.952, root-mean-square error of approximation (RMSEA)=0.068, Tucker Lewis index (TLI)=0.941. The high score group (27%) and low score group (27%) all showed significant differences (P<0.001). Conclusion: The HBAT has good validity and reliability and it can evaluate the beliefs of Chinese hypertensive patients.