Development of a Quality Assurance Score for the Nigeria AIDS Indicator and Impact Survey (NAIIS) Database: Validation Study

BACKGROUND: In 2018, Nigeria implemented the world’s largest HIV survey, the Nigeria AIDS Indicator and Impact Survey (NAIIS), with the overarching goal of obtaining more reliable metrics regarding the national scope of HIV epidemic control in Nigeria. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to (1) describe the processes involved in the development of a new database evaluation tool (Database Quality Assurance Score [dQAS]) and (2) assess the application of the dQAS in the evaluation and validation of the NAIIS database. METHODS: The dQAS tool was created using an online, electronic Delphi (e-Delphi) methodology with the assistance of expert review panelists. Thematic categories were developed to form superordinate categories that grouped themes together. Subordinate categories were then created that decomposed themes for more specificity. A validation score using dQAS was employed to assess the technical performance of the NAIIS database. RESULTS: The finalized dQAS tool was composed of 34 items, with a total score of 81. The tool had 2 sections: validation item section, which contains 5 subsections, and quality assessment score section, with a score of “1” for “Yes” to indicate that the performance measure item was present and “0” for “No” to indicate that the measure was absent. There were also additional scaling scores ranging from “0” to a maximum of “4” depending on the measure. The NAIIS database achieved 78 out of the maximum total score of 81, yielding an overall technical performance score of 96.3%, which placed it in the highest category denoted as “Exceptional.” CONCLUSIONS: This study showed the feasibility of remote internet-based collaboration for the development of dQAS—a tool to assess the validity of a locally created database infrastructure for a resource-limited setting. Using dQAS, the NAIIS database was found to be valid, reliable, and a valuable source of data for future population-based, HIV-related studies.