Validation of Diabetes Knowledge Questionnaire (DKQ) in the Taiwanese Population — Concurrent Validity with Diabetes-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire Module

PURPOSE: Diabetes knowledge is important for people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) to improve their health. Therefore, it is important to validate an instrument for assessing diabetes knowledge. The present study aimed to validate the 24-item Diabetes Knowledge Questionnaire (DKQ). PATIENTS AND METHODS: The 24-item DKQ and Diabetes-specific Quality of Life Module (DMQoL) were administered to 425 patients (mean±SD age=58.4±11.6) with type 2 DM. RESULTS: The 24-item DKQ was first examined for its factor structure using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Items with low factors loadings were removed and 18 items were retained to make a DKQ-18. In DKQ-18, five factors were identified, which were named as diabetes etiology and symptoms (F1), intermediate nursing (F2), complications (F3), diet and treatment (F4), and elementary nursing (F5). The DKQ-18 had satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach’s α= 0.732 and McDonald’s ω=0.748), good known-group validity (participants with a higher level of education showed better score in DKQ-18; participants with HbA1c ≤7 had better score in DKQ-18 compared to group of HbA1c level >8.5), acceptable test–retest reliability (r=0.69), adequate responsiveness (DKQ-18 can detect knowledge change), and concurrent validity with DMQoL. CONCLUSION: The DKQ-18 is a valid measure for assessing diabetes knowledge. The DKQ-18 could evaluate participants’ diabetes knowledge and improve their diabetes knowledge and self-care through a diabetes team and serve as a tool to evaluate the knowledge of participants with type 2 DM.