Development and validation of a childhood self‐efficacy for functional constipation questionnaire

Background Children with functional constipation fear painful bowel movements leading to stool withholding behavior. Self‐efficacy is the belief that an individual can accomplish a given goal. If children with constipation avoid defecation because they think that they are unable defecate comfortably, this low self‐efficacy may prevent treatment success. The aim of the current study was to develop and validate a constipation specific self‐efficacy scale. Methods The self‐efficacy for functional constipation questionnaire (SEFCQ) was developed by the authors and evaluated by 10 children and seven experts. Ninety‐nine healthy children and 122 children with functional constipation completed the SEFCQ and three other questionnaires measuring related constructs. Key Results Minor changes were made in wording based on feedback from experts and children. Factor analysis showed two scales, a 7 item Action scale (Cronbach's α = 0.88) and a 7 item Emotion scale (Cronbach α = 0.86). The SEFCQ total scale correlated positively with general self‐efficacy (r = .32, P