Methodological Aspects for the Development and Validation of Measurement Scales in Health

In the field of health, many measurement scales have been developed and validated to evaluate the health status, psychological well-being and health-related quality of life. For the purpose of selecting a particular measurement scale or for developing new measurement scales (instruments), a coherent approach, including evaluation criteria, procedures, and evaluation techniques, is needed. Based on the analysis of the literature, the authors presented a set of criteria for evaluating the measurement scales and proposed a methodology for the development and validation of the measurement scales in the health domain. The methodology includes five steps: conceptualization, measure development, model specification, scale evaluation and refinement, scale validation. The evaluation criteria and methodology provide a general framework that can be used in academic research and clinical research to carry out empirical studies on the development and validation of measurement scales.