Cross-cultural adaptation of children’s environmental health questionnaires for nursing students in England

Abstract

Objectives: Children are among the most vulnerable population groups with regard to environmental risks. Nursing students must be fully educated on children’s environmental health as they are in a key position to prevent and reduce the effects of environmental hazards. The main objective of this study was to adapt and validate an English language version of two questionnaires about children’s health and the environment, to assess the knowledge and skills of student nurses in England. Design: Observational cross-sectional study. Setting: A university in Southern England. Method: The study involves translating, adapting and validating the Children’s Environmental Health Knowledge Questionnaire (ChEHK-Q) and the Children’s Environmental Health Skills Questionnaire (ChEHS-Q) with nursing students in England ( N = 232). Results: The psychometric characteristics of both questionnaires were strong. Infit and outfit values were close to 1. The reliability values for the items and people were 0.96 and 0.79 for ChEHK-Q and 0.98 and 0.89 for ChEHS-Q, respectively. Only 52 (22.41%) and 77 (33.62%) participants had at least good knowledge and skills, respectively. Higher knowledge and skills were found with respect to the vulnerability of children and identification of environmental risks in the home. Lower levels of knowledge and skills were found with respect to the effects of pesticides and the assessment of neoplastic pollutants. Conclusion: Findings demonstrate deficiencies in nursing competencies related to children’s environmental health. The use of these questionnaires will facilitate improvement in both knowledge and skills related to children’s environmental health among future nurses.

Psychometric validation of the children's environmental health questionnaires in community nurses

“…The results of RSM analysis showed that the ChEHS‐Q model was well fitted. The reliability and separation index of the Chinese version of ChEHK‐Q and ChEHS‐Q are better than the previous Spanish version (Álvarez‐García et al., 2018) and English version (Álvarez‐García et al., 2020), which means that these two questionnaires can accurately measure the knowledge and skills of nurses in children's environmental health and classify nurses according to their latent traits appropriately.…”

“…ChEHK‐Q and ChEHS‐Q were developed by Álvarez‐García et al. (2018), and both of them were verified with good psychometric characteristics and have been widely used in Europe (Alvarez‐Garcia et al., 2020; Álvarez‐García, Álvarez‐Nieto, Kelsey, et al., 2019; Álvarez‐García, Álvarez‐Nieto, Sanz‐Martos, et al., 2019).…”

“…According to the item response theory (IRT), the results showed that the fitting indexes of each item were relatively ideal. The English versions of these two questionnaires also have good psychometric characteristics (Alvarez‐Garcia et al., 2020). At present, there is a lack of tools to measure the competence related to children's environmental health of nurses in China.…”

Change in Children’s Environmental Health and Readiness of Future Nurses: Knowledge and Skill of Nursing Students

“…The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) elements: good health and well-being, clean water and sanitation, and climate actions are interconnected and imperative triangles for reducing neonatal and childhood mortality (9). Globally, the environment contributes to about 13.7 million (24%) deaths, including one in four deaths of children under five years of age and more than a quarter (23%) of disease burdens (10).…”

“…Environmental risk factors (foodborne toxins, poor sanitation, dirty home, poor quality cooking fuels, dirty and poor local waste disposal) contribute to stunting in children (14). Additionally, violent behaviors, poor physical growth, and incompetence in mental activities (attention deficit and poor academic performance) are among the long-term impacts of environmental hazards (9).…”