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Assessing diabetes support in adolescents: factor structure of the modified Diabetes Social Support Questionnaire (DSSQ–Friends)
Author(s) -
Malik J. A.,
Koot H. M.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
diabetic medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.474
H-Index - 145
eISSN - 1464-5491
pISSN - 0742-3071
DOI - 10.1111/j.1464-5491.2012.03677.x
Subject(s) - confirmatory factor analysis , exploratory factor analysis , medicine , social support , construct validity , scale (ratio) , diabetes mellitus , clinical psychology , psychometrics , psychology , structural equation modeling , social psychology , statistics , physics , mathematics , quantum mechanics , endocrinology
Diabet. Med. 29, e232–e240 (2012) Abstract Aims To determine the underlying factor structure of friends’ enacted support behaviours for adolescents with Type 1 diabetes, confirm it in a second sample, delineate distinctive aspects of friends’ support and test the reliability of resulting scale. Methods The study included a total of 434 adolescents (54.8% girls), mean age 14.7 years, mean duration of diabetes 6.1 years. Results Results from the exploratory factor analysis, including data from a random half of the participants revealed a five‐factor solution explaining approximately 48.4% of the item variance. The five factors emerged Guidance and Encouragement (13 items; α = 0.91), Help in Critical Situations (7 items; α = 0.92), Nourishment (11 items; α = 0.88), Empathy (6 items; α = 0.83) and Help in Exercise (5 items; α = 0.76). Confirmatory factor analysis on the remainder of the sample showed good indices of model fit. Comparison of the factor structure across gender and age also presented an excellent fit. In a second‐order factor analysis all five factors loaded on one overall factor, Diabetes Social Support–Friends. Construct validity of the resulting scales was supported by predicted associations of Modified Diabetes Specific Support Questionnaire‐Friends scale scores with HbA 1c , treatment adherence and responsibility, and well‐being. Conclusion The 42‐item Modified Diabetes Specific Support Questionnaire–Friends emerged as a reliable and valid scale for Dutch adolescents with Type 1 diabetes and measures five factors of diabetes‐specific support from close friends.