Abstract
INTRODUCTION: There are 10.5 million children with epilepsy (CWE) around the world. Approximately 70% of people with epilepsy could become seizure-free with appropriate antiseizure therapy. Beliefs may play an important role in medication adherence according to the Health Belief Model. The Belief about Medicines Questionnaire-Specific (BMQ-S) was developed to assess individuals' beliefs about medicines, yet few studies have examined its application among caregivers of CWE in China. OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to verify the validity and reliability of the Chinese BMQ-S among caregivers of CWE. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, from June 2021 to May 2024. The Chinese version of the BMQ-S, originally validated for depression, was adapted for use in this study. After obtaining informed consent, participants were asked to complete a general information questionnaire and the Chinese BMQ-S. Reliability was assessed using McDonald's omega in SPSS 26 (IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY, USA), and construct validity was evaluated using confirmatory factor analysis in Mplus 8.1 (Muthén & Muthén, Los Angeles, CA, USA). The Morisky Medication Adherence Scale was used to assess medication adherence of CWE. The relationship between BMQ-S and adherence was explored using the binary logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: A total of 2,730 caregivers were recruited, of whom 2,405 (88.01%) completed the survey. The children of participants included 1,283 (53.35%) boys and 1,122 (46.65%) girls, ranging in age from 0.08 to 17.80 years. McDonald's omega values were 0.808 for BMQ-necessity and 0.709 for BMQ-concern. Confirmatory factor analysis showed the following fit indices for the final two-factor model: comparative fit index = 0.975, Tucker-Lewis index = 0.964, standardized root mean square residual = 0.038, and root mean square error of approximation = 0.079. The results indicated that 1,513 CWE (62.91%) were adherent to their medication therapy and 892 (37.09%) were non-adherent. However, no statistically significant association was observed between BMQ-S scores and medication adherence. CONCLUSION: The Chinese BMQ-S is a reliable and valid tool for assessing medicine beliefs among caregivers of CWE. Further studies are needed to explore the relationship between BMQ scores and antiseizure medicine adherence.