Development and validation of knowledge, attitude, and practice scale regarding antibiotic use for Chinese medical students

Aims and objectives: This study aimed to develop and validate a knowledge, attitude, and practice scale of antibiotic use for Chinese medical students.

Method: A five-phased procedure was adopted: (a) A item pool was constructed after literature review; (b) Delphi method was used to refine the items; (c) A pilot study was conducted to clarify the item; (d) Item analysis and exploratory factor analysis were used to finalize the scale; (e) Content validity, construct validity and reliability of the scale were analysed.

Results: The scale of 32 items, respectively 15, 9, and 8 for knowledge, attitude, and practice, was finalized. The item-level content validity ranged from 0.80 to 1.00. The scale-level content validity of the scale was 0.90. Model fit indices of total scale and the three dimensions met the criteria. Cronbach's α and the split-half coefficient were respectively 0.81 and 0.65 for the total scale. For each dimension, Cronbach's α varied from 0.68 to 0.89 and the split-half coefficient varied from 0.64 to 0.83.

Conclusion: The scale can be used as a whole or separately, serving as an effective tool to measure medical students' knowledge, attitude, or practice regarding antibiotic use.