Perception and knowledge about pesticide exposure in rural schoolchildren in the Maule region, Chile: Psychometric Validation

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Exposure to pesticides is a significant public health concern, especially in agricultural regions. In particular, exposure during infancy is associated with numerous adverse health outcomes, especially as it relates to neurodevelopment. To date, the assessment of knowledge and perception of pesticide exposure and risk among children has not been thoroughly studied. This study evaluates the reliability and validity of a questionnaire developed to assess the knowledge and perception of exposure to organophosphate pesticides among rural schoolchildren. METHODS: The questionnaire was administered to 151 schoolchildren between 9 - 13 years, selected randomly from four rural schools in the Maule Region, Chile. Internal consistency analysis of ordinal's coefficient alpha equal to or greater than 0.70 was used to assess reliability. Polychoric factor analysis for categorical data was used to assess validity. R-studio software package was used for the analysis. RESULTS:The ordinal alpha obtained was 0.95. The Bartlett sphericity test was significant (p 0.001). Polychoric matrices of rotated components show the 17 questions summarized pesticide knowledge in 5 factors extracted after varimax rotation. This factorial model explains 56.3% of the variance. The factor loads were more significant than 0.33, and each factor has two or more items. The questions were grouped as follows: knowledge about pesticides (Factor 1); knowledge of health effects related to pesticides exposure (Factor 2); pesticide exposure through the growing of fruits and vegetables (Factor 3); perception and action against pesticides exposure at school (Factor 4); and perception and action against pesticides exposure at home (Factor 5). CONCLUSIONS:The questionnaire has a high internal consistency (95%) and a suitable factorial validity to assess the knowledge and perception of exposure to pesticides on rural schoolchildren. Additionally, it provides a valuable tool for examining pesticide exposure in agricultural regions, allowing younger community members to participate. KEYWORDS: Pesticides, Children's environmental health, Risk Assessment