Development, Reliability, and Validity Testing of a KAP-Based Analgesic Assessment Scale

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Psychometrics
• Pain Management

Background:

• Assessing patients' knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) regarding analgesics is crucial for effective pain management.
• Existing tools may lack the multidimensionality needed for comprehensive assessment.
• Standardized evaluation is needed to guide targeted health education and improve medication adherence in pain patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a multidimensional KAP assessment scale for patients' understanding and use of analgesics.
• To establish a reliable and valid tool for evaluating patients' knowledge, attitude, and practice related to pain medication.
• To provide a standardized instrument for targeted health education and enhanced medication adherence in pain management.

Main Methods:

• Methodological research involving scale development and psychometric verification.
• Item pool generation based on KAP framework, literature review, and expert consultation.
• Psychometric testing including item analysis, reliability (Cronbach's α), content validity (I-CVI, S-CVI), and exploratory factor analysis on 200 patients.

Main Results:

• A 17-item, 3-dimension (knowledge, attitude, practice) scale was finalized.
• High reliability was confirmed with an overall Cronbach's α of 0.85 (dimensions > 0.82).
• Excellent content validity (I-CVI ≥ 0.98, S-CVI = 0.91) and construct validity (5 factors explaining 71.16% variance) were achieved.

Conclusions:

• The developed KAP scale demonstrates satisfactory reliability, good construct validity, and clinical applicability for assessing patients' analgesic-related cognition, beliefs, and behaviors.
• This validated scale serves as a reliable quantitative instrument for pain patient assessment.
• The scale facilitates objective identification of patient misunderstandings and non-compliance, supporting personalized education and optimized pain management.