Development and Psychometric Testing of an Infectious Disease Knowledge Questionnaire in a Convenience Sample

TL;DR

This study created and tested a questionnaire to measure the public's knowledge of infectious diseases, which can help improve public health education and responses.

Contribution

The study introduces a new, validated questionnaire for assessing community-level infectious disease knowledge.

Findings

The IDKQ showed good content validity with expert evaluation scores ranging from 0.94 to 1.00.

The questionnaire demonstrated acceptable internal consistency (KR-20 = 0.735) and moderate test–retest reliability (ICC = 0.781).

Factor analysis revealed a four-factor structure with 17 items explaining 45.66% of the total variance.

Abstract

Public health relevance—How does this work relate to a public health issue?
This study addresses the need for a valid and reliable tool to assess the general population’s knowledge of infectious diseases, which is critical for designing effective public health interventions.By measuring community-level knowledge, the Infectious Diseases Knowledge Questionnaire (IDKQ) contributes to understanding public awareness gaps, which is essential for targeting prevention efforts and controlling disease transmission.

This study addresses the need for a valid and reliable tool to assess the general population’s knowledge of infectious diseases, which is critical for designing effective public health interventions.

By measuring community-level knowledge, the Infectious Diseases Knowledge Questionnaire (IDKQ) contributes to understanding public awareness gaps, which is essential for targeting prevention efforts and controlling disease transmission.

Public health significance—Why is this work of significance to public health?
The development of the IDKQ is significant because it fills a gap in the availability of standardized tools for assessing infectious disease knowledge, particularly at the community level.With the rise of emerging infectious diseases, a tool that helps evaluate public knowledge can significantly inform health education initiatives and policies aimed at improving prevention and response strategies.

The development of the IDKQ is significant because it fills a gap in the availability of standardized tools for assessing infectious disease knowledge, particularly at the community level.

With the rise of emerging infectious diseases, a tool that helps evaluate public knowledge can significantly inform health education initiatives and policies aimed at improving prevention and response strategies.

Public health implications—What are the key implications or messages for practitioners, policymakers and/or researchers in public health?
For practitioners and policymakers, the IDKQ can serve as a practical instrument to evaluate the effectiveness of health education programs and identify areas where public knowledge needs improvement.Researchers can utilize the tool to assess community-level awareness across diverse populations, supporting global efforts to enhance public health preparedness and response to infectious disease outbreaks.

For practitioners and policymakers, the IDKQ can serve as a practical instrument to evaluate the effectiveness of health education programs and identify areas where public knowledge needs improvement.

Researchers can utilize the tool to assess community-level awareness across diverse populations, supporting global efforts to enhance public health preparedness and response to infectious disease outbreaks.

Objective: This study aimed to develop the Infectious Diseases Knowledge Questionnaire (IDKQ) and evaluate its psychometric properties for use in community settings. Methods: This methodological study was conducted with 533 adults aged ≥ 18 years. Data were collected using a sociodemographic information form and the IDKQ. Content validity was assessed by expert evaluation. Construct validity was examined using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Reliability was evaluated through item–total correlations, internal consistency (KR-20), test–retest reliability, and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). Data analyses were performed using SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 21.0. Results: Content validity index values ranged from 0.94 to 1.00. EFA revealed a four-factor structure consisting of 17 items, explaining 45.66% of the total variance (KMO = 0.784; Bartlett’s test, p < 0.001). CFA demonstrated good model fit (χ2/df = 2.329, RMSEA = 0.074, CFI = 0.946, AGFI = 0.847, GFI = 0.887, SRMR = 0.045). The KR-20 coefficient was 0.735, the test–retest correlation was 0.604, and the ICC was 0.781. Conclusions: The IDKQ demonstrates acceptable internal consistency and moderate temporal stability, providing preliminary evidence of reliability and construct validity. It may serve as a tool for assessing infectious disease knowledge, although further validation in independent samples is recommended.

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