Validation, suitability and acceptability of a newly developed “dialysis buddies: sihat bersama" dietary educational module for young haemodialysis patients

Younger Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) patients undergoing Haemodialysis usually lack access in engaging an age-appropriate nutrition education. Therefore, this study aimed to validate the content suitability and acceptability of a “Dialysis Buddies: Sihat Bersama" for young CKD patients. A mixed-method approach was used. The content validity was assessed by seven experts of panellists using a structured evaluation comprising nine items, with rated on a 4-point scale (CVI). Whereas the suitability and the acceptability of the e-module were evaluated by 27 younger Haemodialysis patients using the Patient Education Assessment Tool for printable Materials (PEMAT-P) and the Suitability Assessment of the Materials (SAM). The Content Validity Index (CVI) showed excellent scores, with item-level CVIs (I-CVI) ranging from 0.857 to 1.000. The scale-level CVI average (S-CVI/Ave) was 0.969, and universal agreement (S-CVI/UA) reached 0.857, indicating strong expert consensus on relevance and clarity. Patient evaluations revealed high understandability (mean = 94.44%, SD = 10.19, range = 63.64–100%) and perfect actionability (mean = 100%, SD = 0.0) scores for the PEMAT-P. SAM results demonstrated a mean percentage score of 85.76% (SD = 10.82, range = 50.00–94.12), with 88.9% (n=24) of participants rating the module as Superior, and 11.1% (n=3) as Adequate. No participants classified the module as Not Suitable. The “Dialysis Buddies: Sihat Bersama" module demonstrated excellent content validity, high suitability, and strong patient acceptability. These findings support its potential as an innovative tool for improving dietary knowledge and self-management among younger CKD patients. Further studies are recommended for improved recruitment strategies, culturally adapted content and refined evaluation tools to enhance generalizability and impact.