Psychometric properties of the Malay version of the self-efficacy for exercise scale

• Published in: PloS one 2019-05, Vol.14 (5), p.e0215698-e0215698
• Main Authors: Sabo, Abdulwali, Kueh, Yee Cheng, Kuan, Garry
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Analysis; Biology and Life Sciences; Chronic diseases; Chronic illnesses; College students; Confirmatory factor analysis; Correlation; Diabetes; Effectiveness; English language; Exercise; Exercise - psychology; Factor analysis; Female; Health aspects; Humans; Language; Lifestyles; Malaysia; Male; Measures; Medical research; Medicine and Health Sciences; Older people; Participation; People and Places; Physical fitness; Psychometrics - methods; Quantitative psychology; Reliability aspects; Research and Analysis Methods; Research methodology; Researchers; Risk factors; Self Efficacy; Social Sciences; Socialization; Students; Surveys and Questionnaires; Translation (Languages); Undergraduate students; University students; Validity; Young Adult; Young adults
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0215698

The present study was aimed at validating the Malay-language version of the Self-Efficacy for Exercise Scale (SEE-M) using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Data were collected from undergraduate students at all campuses of the Universiti Sains Malaysia. A total of 1,605 students completed the SEE-M (female: 71.5%, male: 28.5%), with the mean age of 20.3 years (SD = 1.5). Perceived self-efficacy was assessed with the 18-item SEE-M. Standard forward-backward translation was performed to translate the English version of the Efficacy for Exercise Scale (SEE) into the Malay version (SEE-M). The 2 initial measurement models tested (1-factor and 3-factor models) did not result in a good fit to the data. Subsequent investigation of the CFA results recommended some modifications, including adding correlations between the item residuals within the same latent variable. These modifications resulted in good fit indices for the 1-factor model (RMSEA = .059, CFI = .939, TLI = .922, SRMR = .049) and the 3-factor model (RMSEA = .066, CFI = .924, TLI = .903, SRMR = .051). The final measurement models comprised all 18 SEE-M items, which had significant factor loadings of more than .40. The test-retest results indicated that the SEE-M was stable, with an intra-class correlation of .99. The composite reliability was .886 for the 1-factor model and .670-.854 for the 3-factor model. The translated version of the SEE-M was valid and reliable for assessing the level of self-efficacy for exercise among university students in Malaysia. This study examining the psychometric properties of the SEE scale based on CFA was the first to assess 2 proposed models (1-factor and 3-factor models) simultaneously and to translate the original, English-language SEE into Malay.