The development and validation of a knowledge, attitude, and practice questionnaire of methamphetamine use

Abstract

Methamphetamine is a synthetic psychostimulant that is showing a rising trend of usage among adolescents and youths. Its harmful side effects and high risk of developing addiction is a public health problem. Recognizing the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) on methamphetamine is critical in the planning of an intervention strategy. Currently there is a lack of KAP questionnaires on methamphetamine. The study aims to develop and validate a KAP questionnaire on methamphetamine-use for use among Malaysian adolescents. Following an extensive literature review, face and content validity were carried out among healthcare workers, the public, students, and local subject matter experts. A pilot study was conducted amongst 50 students to assess the test-retest reliability. The questionnaire was then distributed to two groups of 269 and 331 individuals for the Exploratory (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), respectively. The internal reliability was also assessed among these groups. The content validation consisting of Item Content Validity Index (I-CVI, ranging from 0.875 to 1.00), and Scale Content Validity Index (S-CVI/Ave = 0.941) both showed good validation scores. Test-retest reliability showcased an Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) of > 0.7, indicating its reliability. The model was constructed via the EFA resulting in four constructs, and the model’s goodness of fit was confirmed with CFA. An internal reliability was calculated with Cronbach’s Alpha and showed acceptable reliability (α-values > 0.6) for all constructs. The KAP questionnaire of methamphetamine use is a valid and reliable tool that can be used among Malaysian adolescents. The model arising from this study, can also be used as a guide for future intervention models for adolescent methamphetamine-use disorder.