A SCALE TO MEASURE THE ATTITUDE OF VETERINARY PROFESSIONALS TOWARDS ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE

Abstract

At present antimicrobial resistance appears as a global threat to animal as well as human populations. It affects the health of animals and humans as well as acts as an economic burden to animal owners due to high treatment costs and production failure. This scenario can be changed by altering the attitude of key stakeholders - veterinary professionals towards antimicrobial resistance and its stewardship programme. Thus it is essential to study the attitude of veterinary professionals towards antimicrobial resistance. A scale has been constructed to measure the attitude of veterinary professionals towards antimicrobial resistance by using Scale Product Method, which combines Thurston’s equal appearing technique for items selection and Likert’s technique of summated rating. The process began with identifying the aspects, reviewing literature and collecting item statements, followed by its analysis and checking of reliability and content validity for consistency and accuracy of the result. A total of 25 statements were selected, out of which 20 statements were finally included in the scale to measure the attitude of veterinary professionals towards antimicrobial resistance. The scale contains twenty statements, of which fourteen are positive, and six are negative. The constructed scale was found to be highly reliable and valid.