| Summary: | Introduction
The Decisional Balance Inventory is a tool used to measure propensity
to maintain or change a habit which takes into consideration the perceived
advantages and disadvantages. This study aimed to establish the validity and
reliability of a Malay language version of the DBI for assessing inclination for
change in smoking behavior among secondary school-going adolescents in
Malaysia.
Methods
We administered the MDBI to 669 secondary school students selected
through multistage sampling. The sample consisted of 60.1% male (n=398) and
39.9% (n=264) female students, more than two-thirds (69.9%, n=463) of which
were from rural areas. The majority of the respondents were aged 13–14 years
[13 years, 36.4% (n=241), 14 years, 40.0% (n=265), 16 years, 23.6% (n=156)].
The construct validity of the MDBI was assessed using explanatory (EFA) and
confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and the reliability of the MDBI via Cronbach’s
alpha.
Results
EFA and parallel analysis extracted three factors in the MDBI that accounted
for 65.4% of the observed variance, and this was supported by CFA. Internal
consistency of the three factors ranged from 0.734 to 0.867, indicating acceptable
reliability.
Conclusions
The MDBI has good psychometric properties and is suitable for
measuring smoking intention among Malaysian secondary school-going
adolescents. However, it should continue to be tested to expand its usefulness
and applicability among adolescents in other sociodemographic settings.
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