TY  - JOUR
AU  - Ramos, Giovanni
AU  - Montoya, Amanda Kay
AU  - Hammons, Hayley Renee
AU  - Smith, Danielle
AU  - Chavira, Denise April
AU  - Rith-Najarian, Leslie Rose
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023/4/6
TI  - Digital Intervention Barriers Scale–7 (DIBS-7): Development, Evaluation, and Preliminary Validation
JO  - JMIR Form Res
SP  - e40509
VL  - 7
KW  - barriers
KW  - development
KW  - digital mental health intervention
KW  - measure
KW  - psychometrics
KW  - scale
KW  - validation
AB  - Background: The translation of mental health services into digital formats, deemed digital mental health interventions (DMHIs), has the potential to address long-standing obstacles to accessing care. However, DMHIs have barriers of their own that impact enrollment, adherence, and attrition in these programs. Unlike in traditional face-to-face therapy, there is a paucity of standardized and validated measures of barriers in DMHIs. Objective: In this study, we describe the preliminary development and evaluation of such a scale, the Digital Intervention Barriers Scale-7 (DIBS-7). Methods: Following an iterative QUAN → QUAL mixed methods approach, item generation was guided by qualitative analysis of feedback from participants (n=259) who completed a DMHI trial for anxiety and depression and identified barriers related to self-motivation, ease of use, acceptability, and comprehension of tasks. Item refinement was achieved through DMHI expert review. A final item pool was administered to 559 treatment completers (mean age 23.02 years; 438/559, 78.4% female; 374/559, 69.9% racially or ethnically minoritized). Exploratory factor analyses and confirmatory factor analyses were estimated to determine the psychometric properties of the measure. Finally, criterion-related validity was examined by estimating partial correlations between the DIBS-7 mean score and constructs related to treatment engagement in DMHIs. Results: Statistical analyses estimated a 7-item unidimensional scale with high internal consistency (α=.82, ω=0.89). Preliminary criterion-related validity was supported by significant partial correlations between the DIBS-7 mean score and treatment expectations (pr=–0.25), number of modules with activity (pr=–0.55), number of weekly check-ins (pr=–0.28), and treatment satisfaction (pr=–0.71). Conclusions: Overall, these results provide preliminary support for the use of the DIBS-7 as a potentially useful short scale for clinicians and researchers interested in measuring an important variable often associated with treatment adherence and outcomes in DMHIs. 
SN  - 2561-326X
UR  - https://formative.jmir.org/2023/1/e40509
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/40509
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37023417
DO  - 10.2196/40509
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/40509
ER  -