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Adaptation of the Knowledge about Childhood Autism among Health Workers (KCAHW) Questionnaire aimed for Usage in Turkey
... To the Editor, We would like to acknowledge Ozgur and Eser for their valuable comments regarding our article entitled "Adaptation of the knowledge about childhood autism among health workers questionnaire: Turkish version" [1,2]. In their letter, Ozgur and Eser [2] indicate that removing some items from the original scale during adaptation might impair the content validity and thus should be avoided. ...
... To the Editor, We would like to acknowledge Ozgur and Eser for their valuable comments regarding our article entitled "Adaptation of the knowledge about childhood autism among health workers questionnaire: Turkish version" [1,2]. In their letter, Ozgur and Eser [2] indicate that removing some items from the original scale during adaptation might impair the content validity and thus should be avoided. While this view is legitimate, we should be aware that it also has some exceptions. ...
... Hence, the fourth domain focusing on autoimmunity as a cause, and identifying autism as childhood schizophrenia and as a form of mental retardation might be misleading. Moreover, Ozgur and Eser [2] also draw attention to the insufficient internal consistency in the fourth domain and indicated that the scores of this domain should be evaluated with caution. ...
... Health Workers (KCAHW) questionnaire, which was a useful tool for assessing health workers' baseline knowledge of ASD in children, to measure knowledge level of health workers on ASD in primary care settings (19)(20)(21). The KCAHW questionnaire is divided into four domains, including impairments in social interaction, communication, obsessive and compulsive, as well as type of disorder and possible comorbid conditions and onset (22). ...
Objective: To evaluate the levels of awareness and knowledge of ASD among child health care workers in China, we conducted a cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study to assess the participants' awareness and knowledge of ASD.
Methods: A total of 159 child health care workers from Southwest China participated in the survey and filled out the questionnaire.Descriptive analysis was conducted on the five parts of the questionnaire, including general knowledge, symptomology, screening and diagnosis, and intervention and treatment. Univariate analysis was used to assess impacts of the participants' basic demographic characteristics on the questionnaire scores. Multivariate analysis was used to analyze association of the participants' basic demographic characteristics and the questionnaire scores.
Results: Less than 15% of the participants knew that ASD is a developmental, congenital and genetic disorder. Few participants knew that the symptoms include language disorder (38.4%) and social dysfunction (29.6%). A minority of the participants knew the diagnostic criteria (22.6%) and the age for early screening (14.5%). A total of 23.9% of the participants agreed that there are no effective drugs to treat ASD, and 6.3% agreed that ASD is incurable. A number of years in practice of ≥10 (OR = 0.3249, 95% CI: 0.1080–0.9189) was the main factor related to a high questionnaire score.
Conclusions: Most participants had relatively low levels of awareness and knowledge of ASD, especially in terms of general knowledge as well as knowledge of intervention and treatment. Working for more than 10 years was a significant predictor of higher levels of awareness and knowledge of ASD. ASD-related training and knowledge dissemination are crucial for the early diagnosis and intervention of ASD. Child health care workers' awareness and knowledge of ASD needs to be improved to help build public awareness about ASD.
Objective: The aim of this study is to present the psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the knowledge about childhood autism among health workers (KCAHW) questionnaire.
Methods: Three hundred fifteen primary health care facility workers and 28 child and adolescent mental health professionals were enrolled in this study. Participants filled out socio-demographic data forms and the KCAHW. Reliability analyses consisted of internal consistency and test–retest reliability. For validity analysis, construct validity (confirmatory factor analysis -CFA) and criterion validity were used.
Results: The mean KCAHW questionnaire score was 13.83 ± 2.55. The floor effects in all domains were below 15%, the ceiling effects were over 15% in overall score and in Domain 4. Intraclass correlation coefficient and the Kuder Richardson 21 values were 0.83 and 0.683, respectively; All goodness of fit indices generated by CFA were found satisfactory (Comparative fit index = 0.79; Root mean square error of approximation = 0.056, and chi-square/degree of freedom = 1.91). Being a physician, being a CAMH specialist, having mental health clinic experience, having done a child psychiatry internship, knowing someone diagnosed with autism, follow-up experience of a patient with autism, having previous autism training, and the perception of adequate knowledge about autism, significantly increased the KCAHW scores (p < 0.001).
Conclusion: The Turkish version of the KCAHW questionnaire is reliable (in terms of test-retest and internal consistency) and valid (sensitive some known/expected external criteria). Due to the insufficient internal consistency in Domain 4, the scores received from Domain 4 should be evaluated with caution.
Objective:
Many checklists and scales have been developed to diagnose the autism spectrum disorder in childhood. However, self-applied questionnaires/scales that can be filled out by health professionals for assessing their knowledge and consciousness of this disorder are still limited. The Knowledge about Childhood Autism among Health Workers self-administered survey was developed by Bakare et al. in 2008. This survey was recruited by many study groups in developing countries. In these countries, knowledge regarding childhood autism is inadequate within community healthcare professionals.
Methods:
In our study, the agreed-upon Turkish version of the questionnaire was distributed to the 61 primary care physicians working in Maltepe District of Istanbul Province for the adaptation and validation.
Results:
The internal consistency coefficient (Kuder-Richarson coefficient of reliability-KR20) of the measurements attained from the Turkish version of the questionnaire was 0.70. The split- half reliability analysis demonstrated that the Guttman Split-half value was 0.84. According to the principal factor analysis of the tetrachoric correlation matrix, the three factors with the highest Eigenvalues were associated with (i) Relatively easy clinical observations, (ii) the signs which require a longer observation time and detailed anamnesis, and (iii) the signs, which require detailed examination and observation. The factors explained cumulatively 65.98% of the total variance.
Conclusion:
The findings obtained in this study showed that the adapted questionnaire addressed in the scope of this study is a valid measure for Turkish society.
Knowledge and awareness about childhood autism is low among health workers and the general community in Nigeria and other Sub-Saharan African countries. Poor knowledge and awareness about childhood autism, especially among health workers can compromise early recognition and interventions which had been known to improve prognosis in children with autism. In formulating policy and designing interventions for these children, there is need to develop a reliable tool that can be used in assessing baseline knowledge about childhood autism among health workers and the impact that future continued education and awareness campaign may have on such baseline knowledge. Knowledge about childhood autism among health workers (KCAHW) questionnaire was designed for this purpose.
The KCAHW questionnaire is a nineteen (19) item self-administered questionnaire that is divided into four domains. KCAHW questionnaires were distributed to fifty (50) psychiatric nurses involved in community mental health services in South-Eastern Nigeria to complete. After two weeks period, the KCAHW questionnaires were re-administered to the same fifty (50) psychiatric nurses to assess their knowledge about childhood autism and to assess the test-retest reliability and internal consistency of this questionnaire.
KCAHW questionnaire showed good test-retest reliability when the mean domain and total scores at first and second time administration were compared. The four mean domain scores and the mean total scores at first and second time administration were significantly correlated. The questionnaire also had a good overall internal consistency when the mean scores of the four domains were correlated with mean total scores (Cronbach's alpha = 0.97).
The KCAHW questionnaire is a reliable tool for assessing knowledge of health workers about childhood autism. It would be a useful tool in improving early recognition of features of autism among affected children in Sub-Saharan African and other developing countries of the world where knowledge and awareness about childhood autism is low.
Basic Principles Of Scale Development
- FY Karakoç
- L Dönmez
Karakoç F, Dönmez L. Basic Principles Of Scale Development. Tıp
Eğitimi Dünyası 2014;13:39-49.