Development and psychometric evaluation of the Ketogenic Diet Management Scale for Children with Epilepsy-Parent Form

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to develop a measurement tool to achieve ketogenic diet management in parents of children with epilepsy and examine its Turkish psychometric properties. The study was conducted on 317 parents using a descriptive correlational method. Data analysis and evaluation were performed using factor analysis, Cronbach’s alpha, and item – total score correlation. The scale consists of 20 items and unidimensional factor. As a result of the exploratory factor analysis, the total explained variance of the unidimensional factor was 63.809%. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the scale was 0.971. The four-weeks test-retest reliability evaluated with intra-class correlation was 0.87. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated, the model fit index results were recorded as follows: 0.95 as the Goodness-of-Fit Index; comparative fit index, 0.96 and normed fit index, 0.94. The study determined that the Ketogenic Diet Management Scale for Children with Epilepsy-Parent Form is a measurement tool that can be used by health professionals and that is used to evaluate parents’ ketogenic diet knowledge.

Implications for Practice

In drug-resistant epilepsies, the lack of a measurement tool that evaluates the level of parents’ understanding of the ketogenic diet and the areas of ketogenic diet management about which parents do not have any knowledge is considered to be an important barrier to the effective implementation of the diet. The KDMS-P, which was developed as a result of this study, is a valid measurement tool. It can be used in future studies in Turkish society and can be easily adapted to other cultures due to its universal elements and user-friendly structure related to ketogenic diet management in parents.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.