Psychometric Properties of a Questionnaire on Brucellosis Prevention Behaviors Based on the PRECEDE Model Among Rural Farmers and Their Family Members

INTRODUCTION: Brucellosis is one of the most prevalent diseases in Torbate Heidarieh, Iran; it is a common disease between human and animals. The present study aimed to review the psychometric properties of a questionnaire on brucellosis prevention behaviors based on the PRECEDE model among rural farmers and their family members (PRECEDE-QBPB). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was a combination of qualitative and quantitative stages. In the qualitative stage, an 86-item questionnaire including interviews with 30 farmers, their family members and other effective people, as well as literature review, was designed. In the quantitative stage, psychometric properties of the PRECEDE-QBPB including the face, content, and constructs validities, as well as reliability measurement of the questionnaire were evaluated. Item impact, content validity ratio (CVR) and content validity index (CVI) for all items were calculated. Besides, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was done to evaluate the construct’s validity; AMOS 20 was used for this purpose. In this stage, a cross-sectional study was conducted on 500 rural farmers and their family members. To estimate the internal consistency of this questionnaire, Cronbach’s alpha was used for each variable. Further, descriptive statistics and Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin and Bartlett’s test of sphericity were used to describe the characteristics of the participants and collect samples, respectively. RESULTS: Based on the results of face validity and content validity (CVR, CVI and CFA 9), 19 and 22 items were removed, respectively, leaving the final questionnaire with 36 items and eight subscales including knowledge, attitude, self-efficacy, social support, enabling factors, environmental factors, behavioral factors, and reinforcing factors. The Cronbach’s coefficient alpha was calculated for the total questionnaire (α= 0.92, 0.69–0.87 for subscales). The evaluation of model fit indices showed that all indices confirmed the suitability of the final model fit; therefore, the questionnaire has suitable construct validity. CONCLUSION: A questionnaire, as a valid tool, was designed in the present study. Healthcare providers, policymakers, planners, researchers may use this tool to find a comprehensive understanding of enabling, reinforcing, environmental and behavioral factors that affect brucellosis before implementing health education and health promotion programs.