Development and psychometric evaluation of a new patient -reported outcome measure for psoriasis self-management efficacy: the self-management efficacy questionnaire among patients with psoriasis (SMEQ-PSO)

BACKGROUND: It is significant for the healthy outcome of patients with psoriasis (PSO) to improve their self-management efficacy. A standardized assessment tool, however, was lacking. Therefore, we aimed to develop a self-management efficacy questionnaire for patients with PSO (SMEQ-PSO) and evaluate its psychometric properties. METHODS: A cross-sectional study developing clinical evaluation tool was conducted from October 2021 to August 2022. In the process of developing SMEQ-PSO, three phases were involved: item generation, item evaluation, and psychometric evaluation. RESULTS: The SMEQ-PSO with five dimensions and 28 items was developed. The questionnaire’s content validity index was 0.976. Exploratory factor analysis indicated a five-factor structure (self-efficacy of psychosocial adaptation, self-efficacy of daily life management, self-efficacy of skin management, self-efficacy of disease knowledge management and self-efficacy of disease treatment management) that explained 62.039% of the total variance. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated appropriate fit of the five-factor model. The overall Cronbach’α coefficient was 0.930, the test-retest reliability was 0.768 and the split half reliability coefficients was 0.952. CONCLUSIONS: The 28-item SMEQ-PSO is a reliable and valid tool that can be used to assess the self-management efficacy among patients with PSO and provide personalized interventions based on their individual circumstances to improve their health outcomes.