Abstract
Objective: This study aimed to develop and validate a questionnaire to assess awareness of cervical cancer, its risk factors, and methods of prevention among Arabic-speaking women aged 20 years and over. Methods: The study took place at primary healthcare institutions, Al Buraimi Governorate, Oman, between November 2018 to February 2019. In phase I, seventy items concerning cervical cancer and its prevention were generated through a literature review. In phase 2, the questionnaire was validated through calculating the content validity index (CVI) for both item level (I-CVI) and the scale level (S-CVI), in this phase a shortened English questionnaire of 55 items was formed, then rigorously translated to the Arabic language in phase III. The questionnaire was tested for reliability in two stages: A pilot and a large field test in phase IV. Results: A total of 55 out of 70 items formed the final version of the questionnaire. The final instrument had an S-CVI/Ave of 0.92. The questionnaire called the Knowledge in Cervical Cancer and Prevention Methods 55-items (KCCPM-55). The Cronbach alpha coefficient was 0.940 for the whole questionnaire, and ranged between 0.57 to 0.93 for each of the domains. Test-retest reliability was examined in a subsample of the total participants sample (r = 0.769, p < 0.001). Conclusion: The KCCPM-55 has been successfully developed in the Arabic language and found to be a valid and reliable instrument for assessing the level of knowledge about cervical cancer and prevention methods among women aged 20 to 65 years in Oman.
Highlights
Cervical cancer is a major public health problem for adult women
The S-content validity index (CVI)/Ave was calculated by first multiplying the number of experts by the number of items which returns the total number of possible item-by expert ratings is 560 ( 8 experts X 70items); 517 of them indicated relevance (I-CVI ≥ 0.78)
The content of the KCCPM-55 is the result of extensive literature review and experts’ degree of agreement regarding the content of the proposed instrument
Summary
It continues to represent the fourth most common malignancy affecting women all over the world, and the second most common cancer in developing areas with an estimated 570,000 new cases and 311,000 deaths from the disease occurred in 2018; more than 80% of the new cases and deaths occurring in low and middle-income countries (Arbyn et al, 2019; World Health Organization, 2020). Current estimates of incidence and mortality indicate that every year 77 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 41 die from the disease. Cervical cancer ranks as the 3rd most frequent cancer among women aged 15 to 44 years in Oman with a crude incidence rate of 4.7 and a mortality rate of 2.5 respectively ( Bruni et al.,2019)
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