A social acceptability scale: validation in the context of government measures to curb the COVID-19 pandemic in Senegal.

Abstract

In March 2020, the government of Senegal introduced a curfew, a ban on travel between regions, the closure of markets, and a ban on attending places of worship to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of research into the response to COVID-19, we developed a scale to measure the social acceptability of these measures. We used Sekhon's theoretical framework of acceptability (TFA) to formulate the content of the scale items. We assessed the homogeneity of the scale using Cronbach's Alpha and average interitem correlations. We measured the dimensional properties of the scale using rating scale models. We tested the sensitivity of the scale to sociodemographic characteristics using mixed linear regressions and rating scale models. The final scale consisted of seven items corresponding to the constructs of acceptability. Analysis performed on data from 813 individuals showed that the scale has satisfactory statistical properties (Cronbach's α>0.8, Loevinger's coefficient>0.3, intraclass correlation>0.4). This scale was one of the first to test the TFA. The small number of items was advantageous for use under challenging data collection contexts. Measuring the acceptability of public health interventions with this tool can help in their design and implementation.