Development and validation of a questionnaire to assess preventive practices against COVID-19 pandemic in the general population

Abstract

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected millions of people worldwide with far-reaching socio-economic implications in society. The adoption of preventive practices by the public remains the mainstay in reducing the spread of COVID-19 but there is a dearth of validated tools to assess such infection prevention practices related to pandemics. This study was conducted to develop and validate a questionnaire for the assessment of preventive practices against COVID-19 in the general population. It was done following a standardized protocol involving questionnaire development through literature review, focused group discussions, in-depth interviews, expert opinion, and pre-testing. This was followed by the validation of the questionnaire through a cross-sectional survey on 108 individuals from diverse backgrounds in New Delhi, India in July 2020. Exploratory factor analysis was used to evaluate construct validity. Internal consistency was assessed by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The developed questionnaire for assessing preventive practices consists of two sections: the first section of 18 items to evaluate preventive practices and the second section of 19 items for assessing various reasons for deficiencies in the preventive practices. The first section has good content validity (CVR=0.81 and S-CVI/Av =0.97) and internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha coefficient 0.82). Thus, this questionnaire is a valid and reliable tool for the comprehensive assessment of preventive practices and barriers related to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be useful in assessing the preparedness of the public and will be helpful to policymakers in designing appropriate interventions for protection against COVID-19.

Association of Sociodemographic Parameters With Depression, Anxiety, Stress, Sleep Quality, Psychological Trauma, Mental Well-Being, and Resilience During the Second Wave of COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Survey From India

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Development and Validation of a Questionnaire to Evaluate Workplace Violence in Healthcare Settings

“…This questionnaire was developed and validated using a standard scientific approach [11][12][13]. This included a thorough study of the literature, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, expert opinions, pilot testing, and validation.…”

Exploring the impact of COVID-19 on tourism: transformational potential and implications for a sustainable recovery of the travel and leisure industry

“…The global seasonal influenza outbreaks and pandemic cause adverse consequences on inbound tourism activities during the epidemics crisis, such as COVID-19, SARS, MERS, and ZIKA that developed fears among tourist destination residents ( Tambo et al., 2021 ; McKercher and Chon, 2004 ; Sarkar et al., 2021 ). The world has encountered health and economic crisis with the advent of the pandemic COVID-19 that has adversely affected more than 200 territories and countries worldwide ( Lange, 2021 ; Agarwal et al., 2021 ; Acter et al., 2020 ). See Table 1 for detailed information.…”