Validity and Reliability of Asbestos Knowledge and Awareness Questionnaire for Environmental Asbestos Exposure in Rural Areas

Objective: There is no treatment for asbestos-related diseases, but they can be prevented. One of the first interventions is to improve the knowledge level of people in order to protect people from asbestos and asbestos-related diseases. The present study was conducted to develop a questionnaire for measuring the knowledge and awareness level of asbestos and also assess its validity and reliability in a rural population that is exposed to asbestos environmentally. Methods: A questionnaire, interviewer-administered, that included 37 items was employed on a convenient sample consisting of adult persons who attended a tertiary teaching hospital in Eskisehir where asbestos exposure is widespread in its rural areas. After assessment of validity and reliability of the results, the questionnaire was refined to 19 items and one subscale. Results: A total of 760 participants were included in this study. The mean age of participants was 53.2 +/- 15.1 years and 51.6% of them were male. The discrimination and difficulty indices of the asbestos knowledge and awareness questionnaire ranged between 20.0-60.5% and 0.39-0.98, respectively. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.951 for overall items. The median (min-max) and mean (SD) score of the study population were 30 (19-56) and 33.9 (11.9), respectively. The score increased correspondingly with greater knowledge levels. Conclusion: This questionnaire is a practical and easy tool to apply with acceptable reliability and validity on high-risk adults in rural areas with environmental asbestos exposure.