Marseille 2007
| Abstract #462 - THE USEFULLNESS OF THE MULTIDIMENSIONAL HEALTH LOCUS OF CONTROL FORM C (MHLC-C) FOR HIV+ SUBJECTS: AN ITALIAN STUDY | ||||
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Session: 26.66: Posters B (Poster) on Tuesday in Chaired by Authors: Presenting Author: Dr Alessandro Ubbiali - H San Raffaele Turro, Italy |
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| Additional Authors: Dr Deborah Donati, Dr Carlo Chiorri, Dr Valentina Bregani, Dr Elisabetta Cattaneo, Dr Raffaele Visintini, | ||||
| Aim: The MHLC Form C (Wallston, Stein, & Smith, 1994) was designed to be "condition-specific" and can be used in place of Form A/B when studying people with an existing health/medical condition. Since adherence to therapy is a very important and hard to solve problem specifically characterizing HIV+ subjects and with possible really severe clinical negative outcomes, aim of this study was to assess the usefulness of this instrument to better understand how to improve the adherence of these kind of patients by considering their personal ideas on their medical condition. | ||||
| Method / Issue: Wallstons MHLC-C was administered to 478 HIV+ subjects (%M = 71.5), ranging in age from 18 to 50 years and from 5 to 18 years in education. Most frequent marital statuses were single (54.8%) and married (21.8%). Statistical analyses were carried out through SPSS 11.0. The number of underlying dimensions was assessed by means of Scree-test (ST, Cattell, 1966), Parallel Analysis (PA, Horn, 1965) and Minimum Average Partial (MAP) Correlation statistic (Velicer, 1976). Factor structure was investigated by means of Principal Axes Factor Analysis (PAF) with Promax Axes Rotation. The fit between the hypothesized factor model and observed data, together with factor structure invariance across different subsamples defined by both gender and random splitting, was tested through Maximum Likelihood Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA). Satorra-Bentler (1988)s Scaled Chi-Square statistics were used to correct for substantive non-normal multivariate distribution of item scores. Cronbachs Alpha was used to evaluate internal consistency of MHLC-C subscales. | ||||
| Results / Comments: ST and PA indicated that four latent dimensions could adequately represent systematic inter-item covariation. PAF showed that a 4-factor solution accounted for 47.523% of total variance. All items loaded on the expected factor. Low to moderate correlations were observed among the factors. The MAP statistic suggested a two-factor solution. This solution and a three-factor solution in which items defining Others and Doctors were collapsed into the more general Powerful Others factor were compared to the obtained four-factor solution by means of CFA. Results confirmed the superiority of this latter model (S-Bc2(129) = 296.15, S-Bc2/df = 2.30; RMSEA = .052 (95% CI: .044; .060), P-value for Test of Close Fit (RMSEA < .05) = .317; Robust-TLI = .90; Robust-CFI = .91, SRMR = .064). Multi-group CFAs comparing subsamples defined by gender and total sample random splitting showed the invariance of the 4-factor model for factor loadings and factor correlations, while slight differences in reliability were found. Cronbachs Alpha reliabilities were: Internal .68, Chance .74, Others .50 and Doctors .55. | ||||
| Discussion: The results of this study showed in an HIV+ sample the same 4-factor structure and psychometric properties of the MHLC Form C proposed by the Authors, also in its Italian translation. Therefore, this instrument seems to be of peculiar clinical usefulness to better understand, for each specific HIV+ subject, how to manage his difficulties in being adherent to therapy, specifically focusing on his individual beliefs linked to his medical status. | ||||
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