Adaptation and validation of the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ) in primary care patients in Greece

Abstract

Objective: Cultural adaptation and validation of the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire in Primary Health Care patients in Greece. Methods: For the assessment of the psychometric properties of the Greek version of the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire, 150 chronic patients visiting primary healthcare settings throughout the island of Crete, Greece, were recruited. They all completed both BMQ-general and BMQ-specific scales of the BMQ version which was previously culturally adapted and translated into the Greek language. Results: The subscales of the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire demonstrated adequate internal consistency with Cronbach’s alphas of 0.852 for Specific Necessity, 0.763 for Specific Concern, 0.784 for General Harm and 0.676 for General Overuse. On both parts of the BMQ, the inter-item correlations were found to be sufficient. Factor analysis revealed identical patterns for all questions between the Greek and the original scales. Conclusion: The Greek Version of the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire is a valid and reliable instrument for evaluating patients’ beliefs about medicines in primary healthcare in Greece. Further research is needed in order to study the relationship between beliefs about medication and non-adherence to medications.