1.Development and Validation of a Questionnaire Assessing the Knowledge and Perception of Pregnant Women about Oral Iron Consumption
Nurulhuda Abd Kadir ; Ahzad Hadi Ahmad ; Nur Arzuar Abdul Rahim ; Nik Ahmad Zuky Nik Lah ; Ernest Mangantig
Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences 2021;17(No.3):216-223
Introduction: Good knowledge and perception regarding iron supplementation are crucial to ensure adherence
to iron therapy. This study aims to develop and validate a questionnaire on the knowledge and perception among
pregnant women about oral iron consumption. Method: A self-administrated questionnaire was developed in Malay
language through extensive literature search and a face and content validation process. The questionnaire validation
involved two parts; Validation Study 1 included item response theory (IRT) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) for
the knowledge and perception items, respectively. Validation Study 2 comprised a repeat IRT analysis for the knowledge items and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for the perception items. Results: For the knowledge section, the
initial 22 items in Validation Study 1 were reduced to 19 items after the repeat IRT analysis. The remaining 19 items
had difficulty and discrimination parameters close to or within the acceptable values. For the perception section,
the original 16 items were reduced to 14 in the EFA as two items had a factor loading ≤0.3. The CFA model showed
poor fit of items (chi-square p-value <0.05; CFIrobust=0.73; TLIrobust=0.68; RMSEArobust=0.20; and SRMR=0.12). The
Cronbach’s alpha for both sections were >0.7, and the intra-class correlation coefficient value in the knowledge and
perception sections were 0.74 and 0.87, respectively. Conclusion: The results illustrate good psychometric properties for the knowledge items. However, further confirmatory validation is needed for the perception items. This
questionnaire can be a valid and reliable assessment tool for assessing the knowledge of pregnant women regarding
oral iron consumption.