The Malay-Version Knowledge, Risk Perception, Attitude and Practice Questionnaire on Heatwaves: Development and Construct Validation

Background: Heatwaves have long been recognised as a serious public health concern. This study was aimed at developing and validating a Malay-version of a questionnaire for evaluating knowledge, risk perception, attitudes, and practices regarding heatwaves. Method: The knowledge construct was evaluated with item analysis and internal reliability. The psychometric characteristics, construct and discriminant validity, and internal consistency of the risk perception, attitude and practice constructs were evaluated with exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Results: The 16 items in the knowledge construct had a good difficulty, discrimination, and reliability index of 0.81. A total of 16 items were maintained in EFA with Cronbach’s alpha of 0.84 and 0.82, 0.78 and 0.84 obtained for total items and risk perception, attitude, and practice constructs, respectively. A total of 15 items were retained after CFA. The finalised model met the fitness indices threshold. The convergent and discriminant validity were good. Conclusion: This newly developed Malay-version KRPAP questionnaire is reliable and valid for assessing Malaysians’ knowledge, risk perception, attitudes, and practices regarding heatwaves.