Development of a Strengths Measurement Scale for the lifestyle transformation process.

This study aimed to develop a Strengths Measurement Scale (SMS) for assessment of people in the process of transforming their own lifestyle, and to examine the reliability and validity of the SMS. This is to establish a foothold for introducing the Strengths Model into health guidance for the prevention of lifestyle-related diseases. We conducted an anonymous, voluntary questionnaire survey with our SMS comprising 38 items proposed in a preliminary investigation. In total, 1,339 Japanese adults participated, and responses from 1,160 participants (effective response rate of 86.6%) were analyzed. We calculated Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for testing the reliability. To test the validity, we examined the construct validity through exploratory factor analyses. Based on the results of the factor analysis performed on the 38 question items of the SMS, we adopted four factors and 36 question items. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of all the factors were 0.80 or above. There were significant, positive correlations between the SMS and the Modified Perceived Health Competence Scale (PHCS), and between the SMS and the Adolescent Resilience Scale (ARS). The reliability and validity of the SMS for the lifestyle transformation process were confirmed, suggesting that the scale is applicable to health guidance for preventing lifestyle-related diseases.