Validation of a poultry biosecurity survey

Area of Science:

• Veterinary Epidemiology
• Agricultural Science
• Animal Health Management

Background:

• Biosecurity is crucial for preventing disease transmission in commercial poultry operations.
• Accurate data collection on biosecurity practices is essential for effective disease control strategies.
• Farm-specific questionnaires are commonly used to gather biosecurity information.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and validate a questionnaire for assessing biosecurity on Ontario commercial broiler chicken and turkey farms.
• To evaluate the reliability and accuracy of survey responses against verifiable data.
• To identify potential sources of error and bias in biosecurity surveys.

Main Methods:

• A questionnaire was developed for farm managers of broiler chicken and turkey operations.
• Validation involved comparing survey responses with facility observations, farm records, and technical personnel interviews.
• A convenience sample of 24 farms was used for validation.
• Statistical measures including sensitivity, specificity, kappa statistics, and percent agreement were calculated.

Main Results:

• Sensitivity for dichotomous questions ranged from 16.7% to 100%, with poor reporting for features like fences and gates.
• Chance-corrected agreement (kappa) was low (< 0.4) for 34 questions, indicating significant disagreement.
• Discrepancies (P < 0.1) were found between survey and validation data for questions on bird numbers, sources, and flock downtime.
• Lack of clear wording and undefined technical terms reduced questionnaire validity.

Conclusions:

• Biosecurity questionnaires require rigorous validation before use in epidemiological research.
• Response bias and unclear question phrasing are significant challenges impacting data accuracy.
• Pre-testing and clear definitions are vital to improve the reliability of biosecurity surveys in the poultry industry.