Psychometric Testing of the Health Options Scale with Adolescents

Abstract

The availability of psychometrically sound family measures that are appropriate for parents and their children is limited. As a result, children’s perspectives of their families, including their efforts to promote health, are virtually absent in the scientific literature. The 21-item Health Options Scale (HOS) was designed to measure health work, the process by which families work together to promote their health. Although evidence of reliability and validity of the HOS has been provided in adult samples, the psychometric properties of this scale have not been assessed in adolescents. In the current study, the reliability and validity of the HOS was assessed using data from a convenience sample of 188 Canadian adolescents, with the intention of retaining the 3 subscales of the HOS if possible. The original 21-item scale demonstrated adequate internal consistency and evidence of construct validity on initial testing. Scale modification to improve fit of the data with the 3-dimensional structure of the HOS using item analysis and confirmatory factory analysis yielded different findings that support the original 21-item HOS and a new 15-item version. Implications for additional testing of the HOSand general considerations related to choice of instrument development and testing strategies are addressed.