Psychometric Evaluation of the Modes of Health Information Acquisition, Sharing, and Use (MHIASU) Questionnaire (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Few measures that capture individuals’ health information behavior when managing a chronic illness have been evaluated. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the psychometric properties of the self-administered Modes of Health Information Acquisition, Sharing, and Use (MHIASU); a 23-item questionnaire that measures how individuals with health risks and/or chronic illness acquire, share, and use health information. METHODS African American/Black women with hypertension (N = 320) participated in a prospective, observational study and completed the MHIASU questionnaire online. We conducted a psychometric evaluation of the MHIASU using exploratory factor analysis. The evaluation includes item review, construct validity, and reliability. RESULTS Each item of the MHIASU was retained. Construct validity was established using exploratory factor analysis with principal axis factoring. As anticipated, the instrument was found to have three subscales: acquisition, sharing, and use. Reliability was high for all three subscales, as evidenced by Cronbach’s alpha scores ranging from 0.81-0.93. CONCLUSIONS Construct validity and reliability of the online, self-administered MHIASU was demonstrated in a large national cohort of African American/Black women with hypertension. Future studies can use the MHIASU to examine health information behavior in other populations managing health concerns and conditions.