Development of a Diet Management Scale for Pediatric Patients with Citrin Deficiency

Objective: This study aimed to develop a scale to assess the caregiversability to manage the dietary needs of pediatric patients with citrin deficiency (CD). Methods: 24 experts from 11 hospitals in mainland China participated in the Delphi research. Item analysis was performed on 61 caregivers of CD patients who were enrolled in the testing of the draft scale, and 153 caregivers attended the validity and reliability testing. The initial scale was made according to the suggestions by the 24 experts. Retest reliability method and Cronbach’s α coefficient method were used to evaluate the external and internal reliability of the scale, respectively; the scale validity was evaluated by content validity and construct validity. Results: A consensus was reached by 24 experts after two rounds of investigation, and a preliminary draft of the scale was formed consisting of three dimensions: Special dietary knowledge, Healthy dietary attitude and Dietary behavior. The expert authority coefficient was 0.887, and the Kendall coefficient was 0.201. The final scale Cronbachu0027s alpha coefficient (α = 0.713) showed good internal consistency and balance stability. The retest reliability coefficient of the scale was 0.975, indicating good external stability. The total content validity index (S-CVI) was 0.981, and the content validity index (I-CVI) of each item varied between 0.913 and 1.0. On confirmatory factor analysis, the indicators CMIN/DF, RESAE, PNFI, NFI, TLI, IFI and CFI for the construct validity of the scale were 1.191, 0.053, 0.628, 0.796, 0.940, 0.954, and 0.951, respectively. Conclusion: The scale developed in this paper exhibited promising reliability and validity for the clinicians to evaluate the dietary management ability of the caregivers of pediatric CD patients.