Cultural validation of the Malay General Self-Efficacy Scale: addressing health equity and patient-centred care in Malaysia

Self-efficacy is a key determinant of health behaviour and patient engagement; yet its assessment in multicultural settings is often limited by the lack of culturally validated tools. This study aimed to translate, culturally adapt, and validate the Malay version of the General Self-Efficacy Scale (M-GSES) for use among hospitalised adults in Malaysia. Guided by social cognitive theory, a cross-sectional validation study was conducted involving 100 hospitalised adults (aged 18–60 years) in a tertiary hospital in Kelantan, Malaysia. The scale underwent forward-backward translation, expert review (n = 10), and cognitive debriefing (n = 10). Psychometric evaluation included content and face validity, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and internal consistency reliability. The M-GSES demonstrated high content validity (S-CVI/Ave = 0.95), good face validity (S-FVI/Ave = 0.88), and strong internal consistency (Raykov’s ρ = 0.87). CFA supported a unidimensional structure with good model fit after allowing a theoretically justified residual correlation between items 1 and 6 (CFI = 0.971; RMSEA = 0.074; TLI = 0.959). The M-GSES is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing self-efficacy in Malay-speaking hospitalised adults in Malaysia. The scale has the potential to promote patient-centred care and inform equitable health interventions, though future cross-ethnic validation is needed.