Abstract
BackgroundNegative attitudes towards insulin are commonly reported by people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and can act as a barrier to timely insulin initiation. The Insulin Treatment Appraisal Scale (ITAS) is a widely used 20-item measure of attitudes towards insulin. While designed for completion by both insulin using and non-insulin using adults with T2DM, its psychometric properties have not been investigated separately for these groups. Furthermore, the total score is routinely reported in preference to the published two-factor structure (negative/positive appraisals). Further psychometric validation of the ITAS is required to examine its properties.MethodsThe ITAS was completed by a subgroup of 748 Diabetes MILES – Australia study participants with T2DM, who were either insulin using (n = 249; 45% women; mean age = 58 ± 9 years; mean diabetes duration = 13, SD = 8 years) or non-insulin using (n = 499; 47% women; mean age 57 ± 9 years; mean diabetes duration 7 ± 6 years). We replicated the psychometric analyses reported in the ITAS development paper. In addition, we explored factor structure and investigated internal consistency separately for the insulin using and non-insulin using samples.ResultsFactor analyses supported a two-factor structure with good internal consistency (negative subscale α = .90; positive subscale α = .69). Scale performance differed slightly in the insulin using and non-insulin using samples, with some items loading inconsistently between groups. A one-factor solution was not supported in either sample, with the positive items and some negative items failing to load adequately. Consistent with prior research, negative appraisals were significantly more common among non-insulin using participants compared to those using insulin (d = 1.04), while the positive subscale score did not discriminate between groups.ConclusionsThe data supported a two factor structure and the positive subscale did not discriminate between insulin using and non-insulin using participants. As such, we recommend use of the negative subscale score in preference to the ITAS total score, and suggest close attention is paid to the relevance of the positive items in the given population.
Highlights
Negative attitudes towards insulin are commonly reported by people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and can act as a barrier to timely insulin initiation
Barriers to Insulin Treatment’ (BIT) items commonly refer to the physical aspects of insulin use or technical concerns rather than the symbolic meaning of insulin initiation
The Insulin Treatment Appraisal Scale (ITAS) is a 20-item questionnaire, including 16 statements referring to barriers to insulin use and four referring to its benefits (12)
Summary
Negative attitudes towards insulin are commonly reported by people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and can act as a barrier to timely insulin initiation. A quarter of adults with T2DM report being unwilling to begin insulin therapy [3], commonly reporting concerns about the necessity of insulin, as well as the physical, social and symbolic adverse consequences of insulin use [4] These negative attitudes, known as ‘psychological insulin resistance’ (PIR), may lead to delays in insulin initiation or sub-optimal use once insulin is prescribed [3,5,6,7,8]. Unlike the BIT, the more commonly used ITAS was developed and validated for use by people with T2DM regardless of current treatment type, with the advantage of enabling assessment both before and after insulin initiation [12]. For non-insulin using respondents, the ITAS assesses expectations about future insulin use, while for those already using insulin, the measure is used to evaluate actual experience with insulin use
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