Psychometric Properties of the Short Form of the Health Practices Questionnaire-II Chinese Version.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the psychometric properties of the Health Practice Questionnaire-II Chinese version (HPQ-II CV), a self-report instrument designed to measure the health behaviors of pregnant women.

DESIGN: Cross-sectional, psychometric design.

SETTING: Prenatal clinics of four hospitals in southern Taiwan.

PARTICIPANTS: Two convenience samples, 368 pregnant women in Phase 1 and 289 pregnant women in Phase 2.

METHODS: In Phase 1, the 34-item HPQ-II was translated into Chinese. Then, we explored the factor structure of the HPQ-II CV using exploratory factor analysis, determined the factors of the HPQ-II CV, and shortened the length of the scale. In Phase 2, we used confirmatory factor analysis to cross-validate the factor structure of the 13-item HPQ-II CV.

RESULTS: In Phase 1, we used item analysis to reduce the 34-item HPQ-II CV to 21 items. Using exploratory factor analysis and parallel analysis, we shortened the 21-item HPQ-II CV to 15 items grouped in four factors: Taking Safety Measures (4 items), Eating A Healthy Diet (3 items), Coping With Uncertainty (3 items), and Seeking Help From Professionals (5 items), which accounted for 45.70% of the total variance. In Phase 2, two items were removed from the 15-item HPQ-II CV after confirmatory factor analysis. Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the 13-item HPQ-II CV was .80, and the cross-sample validity supported the best-fit model for the 13-item HPQ-II CV.

CONCLUSION: We found acceptable validity and reliability statistics for the 13-item HPQ-II CV when administered to pregnant, Taiwanese women.