Development and psychometric properties of the HBM- based Substance Abuse Prevention Questionnaire (HBM-SAPQA) among Afghanian students
Abstract Background In Afghanistan, adolescents and young people are the most important at risk groups for substance abuse. Considering the importance of model-based interventions, this study aims to design and validate a questionnaire based on the Health Belief Model (HBM) for assessing the beliefs of Afghan students regarding substance abuse prevention behavior. Methods This study was conducted in two stages. Firstly, the items of the questionnaire were designed by conducting a combined documentary literature review and qualitative study. In the next step, its psychometric properties were evaluated through qualitative and quantitative formal validity (calculation of impact score), qualitative and quantitative content validity - Content Validity Ratio (CVR) and Content Validity Index (CVI)- and structural validity through Factor Explanatory Analysis (FEA). Finally, consistency compatibility through Cronbach’s alpha as well as reliability (internal correlation) test re-test were assessed. To above steps, the SPSS version 18 was applied. R esults 74 items were obtained for the questionnaire by performing a qualitative study and using existing scientific sources for literature review. In the study of formal validity of quantitative items, the effect coefficient of all above 1.5 was calculated. The CVR of each item was more than 0.8 (mean 0.93), and their CVI was more than 0.79. In this stage, 12 items related to cues to action hanged to 1 item with 12 options so all 63 remained items were retained in the questionnaire. In FEA 40 items related to main constructs of HBM were assessed by which, by eliminating 2 items, structural validity was confirmed for 38 items in 5 factors and covering about 40% of the variance for EFA 408 students with average age of 23 years old were assessed. In the internal compatibility process, the acceptable values of Cronbach's alpha between 0.71 and 0.81 were calculated for all factors. Test re test approved to assess reliability of the instrument. Conclusion The HBM-SAPQA tool obtained the acceptable validity/reliability to apply the beliefs of Afghan students regarding substance abuse preventive behavior. Although the result of this study showed, this questionnaire has good validity and reliability, but this result should be confirmed in future studies.