Validity and Reliability of the Disaster Preparedness Knowledge Instrument for Health Cadres in Volcanic Disaster-Prone Areas

Abstract

Background: Public health cadres can play an important role in improving disaster response and recovery. However, a multidimensional instrument is needed to assess the levels of disaster knowledge for community health cadres. This instrument is important to develop a complete and effective educational program for disaster preparation for health cadres. Therefore, this study aimed to test validity and reliability of the disaster preparedness knowledge instrument for health cadres in areas prone to volcanic disasters.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted by involving 300 respondents. The instrument was developed by conducting literature review followed by completing a qualitative study. We reduced the original instrument from 50 items to a final instrument comprising 41 items, classified into 6 categories: 1) early warning [16 items]; 2) disaster triage [4 items]; 3) basic life support [7 items]; 4) first aid [7 items]; 5) search and rescue [5 items]; and 6) logistic, communications and team organization [2 items]. Instrument validation was assessed by using Pearson Product moment and the reliability was estimated by using internal consistency reliability.Results: 300 respondents were involved in this study with all respondents were women aged between 40-49 years old. All of them were either health cadre or high school students. In instrumental testing, all 41 items of the instrument were confirmed through content validity (Pearson Product Moment). Using internal consistency reliability, the study found reasonable inter-item reliability for all items (Cronbach’s α: 0.785-0.807).Conclusion: Higher score on disaster triage aspect suggest that health cadres have pivotal role in emergency care during disaster. The finding revealed that disaster triage technique and skills for health cadres or lay man is very important.Â