Translation and validation of Champion's Health Belief Model Scale with Korean women

The Champion's Health Belief Model Scale (CHBMS) is a reliable and valid instrument developed for American women to measure beliefs about breast cancer and breast self-examination. The purpose of this study is to translate the CHBMS into Korean and to validate the scale among Korean women. The CHBMS was translated using a back-translation technique. A convenience sample of 264 women was recruited from a continuing education center, a community health center, and a university in 3 South Korean cities. The participants were asked to complete the translated Korean version of the CHBMS questionnaire. The data obtained were analyzed using a principal component analysis with varimax rotation for construct validity. Loading criterion was set at .45. Cronbach's alpha was computed for the reliability of the scale. From the analysis, two items from the Benefits domain and four items from the Motivation domain were deleted from the original scale. Thus, the final Korean version of the CHBMS (CHBMS-K) consisted of 36 items that were clustered to 6 subscales: susceptibility (5 items), seriousness (7 items), benefits (4 items), barriers (6 items), confidence (11 items), and motivation (3 items). Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficients for the 6 subscales ranged from .92 to .72. The CHBMS-K was found to be reliable and valid in scale for use with Korean women. It can be used in planning and testing interventions to improve breast self-examination beliefs and practice.