Open AccessDevelopment and Validation of the Hyperlipidemia
Author(s) -
Foley Kathleen A.,
Vasey Joseph,
Alexander Charles M.,
Markson Leona E.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of general internal medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.746
H-Index - 180
eISSN - 1525-1497
pISSN - 0884-8734
DOI - 10.1111/j.1525-1497.2003.30114.x
Subject(s) - medicine , hyperlipidemia , reliability (semiconductor) , national cholesterol education program , consistency (knowledge bases) , internal consistency , physical therapy , family medicine , clinical psychology , psychometrics , obesity , diabetes mellitus , endocrinology , power (physics) , physics , geometry , mathematics , quantum mechanics , metabolic syndrome
INTRODUCTION: Many patients treated with lipid‐lowering medications in clinical practice do not achieve targeted National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) goals for low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL‐C), despite the proven efficacy of these medications. Understanding physician attitudes and beliefs about treating patients to goal may be useful in improving patient care and ensuring that all patients receive the benefits of treatments shown to be optimal in clinical trials. OBJECTIVE: To develop a theoretically based, and statistically reliable and valid survey instrument for measuring the attitudes and beliefs of physicians toward hyperlipidemia and its treatment, including treatment of patients to goal. To determine whether the attitudes measured were associated with physician intentions to treat patients to LDL‐C goal. METHODS: We assessed the reliability of the instrument through an examination of the internal consistency and factor structure of the constructs. Validity was assessed through zero‐order correlations among the constructs and the relationship between the constructs and an intent to treat to goal case study. RESULTS: Internal consistency scores for the 8 constructs ranged from 0.48 to 0.75. Factor loadings indicated that the individual items belonged to their respective constructs, as hypothesized. The predictive validity of the instrument was demonstrated by significant relationships between 5 of the 8 attitudinal constructs and an intent to treat to goal case study. CONCLUSIONS: The HABIT physician survey is the first validated instrument covering a broad set of attitudes about the treatment of hyperlipidemia that are both theoretically and empirically linked to physician intent to treat to NCEP LDL‐C goal.