Reliability and validity of the Filipino-translated diabetes self-management questionnaire and its correlation with HbA1c

ABSTRACT

Background@#Diabetes self-management is a fundamental aspect of diabetes care and has a significant impact on diabetes- related mortality and morbidity. Assessment of self-care management is thus essential for clinicians and educators seeking better outcomes. However, there are no Filipino-validated tools to objectively measure this.@*Methodology@#A cross-sectional analytic study was done among adult Type 2 diabetic mellitus (T2DM) patients at the Ilocos Training and Regional Medical Center (ITRMC) Department of Internal Medicine outpatient clinic and three private diabetes clinics to determine the reliability and validity of the Filipino-translated Diabetes Self-Management Questionnaire (DSMQ) and its association with glycemic control as measured using glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) values and categorized into good (< 7%), moderate (7-8.9%) and poor (> 9%) control. The English version of the DSMQ was translated to Filipino using forward-backward translation. The pre-tested Filipino translated questionnaire was then distributed to the participants and the responses were analyzed using Cronbach’s alpha, Pearson’s coefficient, and one–way analyses of variance.@*Results@#There were a total of 78 respondents. The test-retest reliability showed a statistically significant correlation (p < 0.05). All the items showed a high difficulty index. Known group validity was computed based on categorized HbA1c values. DSMQ sum scores and subscales showed no significant differences among the three categories of glycemic control.@*Conclusion@#The Filipino-translated DSMQ is a reliable tool for measuring the self-care of Filipinos with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Future research using it with a larger sample size and analysis for other factors affecting diabetes control may be better able to demonstrate its association with glycemic control.