Objectives Self-efficacy and self-care measures are key attributes to optimal control of essential hypertension. Self-efficacy can be measured by the Hypertension Self-Care Profile (HTN-SCP) tool but its utility is dependent on the literacy and understanding of the subjects. A Malay version of the HTN-SCP Tool was developed to assess self-efficacy of Malay-literate patients with hypertension in the multi-ethnic Asian population in Singapore. The study aimed to determine the test-retest reliability of this tool which has been translated in Malay language.

Methods and Material 145 Malay-literate patients, aged 41-70 years, with essential hypertension were recruited in a polyclinic (primary care clinic) in Singapore. Forty-three percent of them completed both the first and second HTN SCP tool online, with a period of two weeks in between. The Cronbach’s alpha and Intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) were computed to assess its test-retest reliability and internal consistency.

Results The Cronbach’s alpha/ICC for “Behavior” (0.851/0.664)), “Motivation” (0.928/0.655) and “Self-efficacy” (0.945/0.682) domains showed high internal consistency, fair to good reliability and stability. No floor or ceiling effect was found for the "behavior" and "motivation" domains. However, the borderline ceiling effect (15.2) for "self-efficacy" suggested limited discriminating power of the tool for patients with high self-efficacy. Positive association was shown between the HTN-SCP score and reported self-care measures but it was not statistically significant.

Conclusion Overall, the translated HTN-SCP tool showed satisfactory test-retest reliability and internal consistency amongst the Malay-literate study population. Further research is needed for its application in general practice to identify patients with low self-efficacy for possible intervention.