Self-as-doer for diabetes: development and validation of a diabetes-specific measure of doer identification.

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a scale to measure the level of self-care behavior "doer identity" in persons with diabetes. METHODS Persons with diabetes (N = 355) completed questionnaires assessing self-as-doer identity and other related constructs. Principle components and parallel analyses and tests of reliability and validity were performed. RESULTS A 7 factor solution explained 55.24% of the total variance on behaviors. Cronbach's alpha was .93 for the overall scale. Extracted components moderately correlated with one another and theoretically similar constructs. Self-as-doer identity significantly predicted all self-care behaviors (except for blood glucose monitoring) and glycemic control over and above related variables for persons with type 1 diabetes. Self-as-doer identity also predicted diet behaviors for persons with type 2 diabetes. CONCLUSIONS Evidence for a reliable and valid factor structure of the Self-as-doer-Diabetes measure was demonstrated.