The reliability and validity of a newly developed scale for measuring a negative cognition towards diabetes

No studies have been conducted regarding a negative cognition towards diabetes, and there are currently no psychological tests to measure it. To address this problem, we developed and tested the "Diabetes Negative Cognition Scale" (DNCS) for reliability and validity. A preliminary questionnaire of 111 items was distributed to 200 patients with type 1 diabetes and 310 patients with type 2 diabetes. Five psychological tests were also administered, and demographic and medical data were collected. A cluster procedure of variance analysis identified seven clusters: "Absence of a reason for living," "Burden of diabetes," "Distrust toward medical treatment," "Watching and meddling by surrounding people," "Sense of alienation," "Rejection of antidiabetic drugs or insulin" and "Pressure related to diabetic self-management" In total, the DNCS has 26 items. The validity of this scale was demonstrated by a good factor structure and higher DNCS scores among the patients with poor glycemic control. The reliability of the scale was demonstrated by the good internal consistency of Cronbach's α and the high consistency in the test-retest method.