Evaluation of the content validity, internal consistency and stability of an instrument designed to assess the HIV/AIDS knowledge of university students
Balogun, J.A.; Abiona, T.C.; Lukobo-Durrell, M.; Adefuye, A.; Amosun, S.; Frantz, J.; Yakut, Y.
Education for Health 23(3): 400
2010
ISSN/ISBN: 1357-6283 PMID: 21290359 Document Number: 566303
This study evaluated the content validity, internal consistency and stability of a questionnaire designed to assess the HIV/AIDS knowledge of young adults. The questionnaire was administered on two occasions, within two week intervals, to 219 university students in the USA (n=66), Turkey (n=53) and South Africa (n=100). The psychometric instrument contained demographic information questions and 45 knowledge questions regarding the HIV virus, ways of transmitting it, symptoms of HIV/AIDS infection and methods of prevention. Factor analysis was conducted to assess construct validity; Cronbach alphas and Pearson's product moment correlation (r) were calculated to evaluate internal consistency and stability, respectively. The 45 knowledge questions produced a Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (measure of sampling adequacy) value of 0.8133 and loaded on three factors with an overall Cronbach's alpha of 0.861. The r for the individual knowledge question was greater than 0.50 and the overall knowledge score was "almost perfect" (0.91; p<.001). For participating students from the USA, Turkey and South Africa, their r for the overall knowledge score was 0.80 (p<.001), 0.83 (p<.001) and 0.93 (p<.001), respectively. Our findings revealed that the instrument is highly stable and internally consistent. The availability of this instrument may enhance HIV intervention studies internationally.