The Basic HIV Disease Knowledge Questionnaire: a Rasch-scaled instrument to measure essential HIV knowledge

Area of Science:

• Psychometrics
• Infectious Diseases
• Health Education

Background:

• Existing HIV disease-related psychometric questionnaires require improvement.
• Accurate assessment of HIV knowledge is crucial for effective patient management and education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a Rasch-scaled measure for assessing basic human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease knowledge.
• To provide a reliable and sensitive tool for evaluating the effectiveness of HIV education interventions.

Main Methods:

• A Rasch-scaled questionnaire was developed.
• The measure was calibrated on a sample of 1092 subjects.
• Test-retest reliability and validity were assessed through multiple studies.

Main Results:

• The developed questionnaire demonstrated adequate test-retest reliability across four studies.
• Validity studies indicated the measure is sensitive to knowledge gained from HIV-related training.
• The Rasch scaling provided a robust framework for knowledge assessment.

Conclusions:

• The new Rasch-scaled questionnaire is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring basic HIV disease knowledge.
• This tool can be effectively used to assess the impact of HIV education and training programs.
• Further discussion on the potential uses and limitations of this psychometric measure is provided.