Designing, psychometric, and application of measurement instrument for Self-Care Literacy in Prevention of Prostate Cancer (SCL-PCa): A mixed-method study protocol.

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in men worldwide. Prostate cancer prevention requires self-care; however, there seems to be insufficient information about men's self-care literacy, and almost no studies have addressed this issue. Therefore, this study aimed to design and psychometric evaluation of a measurement instrument for Self-Care Literacy in Prevention of Prostate Cancer (SCL-PCa) in men over 40 years old. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This mixed-method study will adopt a sequential exploratory approach (qualitative-quantitative) and will be conducted in Iran. In the qualitative phase, participants will include urologists, oncologists, nurses, and men aged 40 and older, selected via purposive sampling with maximum variation. Data will be collected through in-depth, semi-structured face-to-face interviews and analyzed using content analysis with MAXQDA 20 (VERBI Software, Berlin, Germany). The initial items for the instrument will be developed in this phase. In the second (quantitative) phase, the instrument's psychometric properties, including face, content, construct validity, and reliability (internal consistency and stability), will be evaluated. CONCLUSIONS: The validated and reliable instrument developed in this study will address the existing gap in assessing prostate cancer-related self-care literacy. Furthermore, it will provide a foundation for designing effective educational interventions and targeted health planning in future research.