Development and psychometric evaluation of cardiovascular health beliefs scale

Objective Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of mortality. This study aimed to develop and psychometrically evaluate the Cardiovascular Health Beliefs Scale (CHBS) to assess CVD-related health beliefs.Methods A cross-sectional methodological design was utilized in two phases. Phase 1 (n = 150) focused on item generation and exploratory factor analysis. Phase 2 (n = 531) involved confirmatory factor analysis. Data were collected via face-to-face interviews using the newly developed CHBS and the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) General Severity Index to test construct validity.Results The CHBS supported an acceptable six-factor structure: perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, health motivation, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, and self-efficacy. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranged from .70 to .84, demonstrating adequate internal consistency.Conclusion The CHBS demonstrated acceptable validity and reliability as a measurement tool. It enables nurses and healthcare professionals to assess risk behaviors and implement culturally congruent, targeted preventive interventions for cardiovascular care within the Turkish population.