Open AccessReliability of an adult respiratory symptom questionnaire in a community located near a mine dump in South Africa: pilot study
Author(s) -
Vusumuzi Nkosi,
Kuku Voyi
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
southern african journal of infectious diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2313-1810
pISSN - 2312-0053
DOI - 10.4102/sajid.v31i3.85
Subject(s) - cronbach's alpha , reliability (semiconductor) , internal consistency , questionnaire , medicine , epidemiology , family medicine , physical therapy , environmental health , clinical psychology , psychometrics , pathology , statistics , power (physics) , physics , mathematics , quantum mechanics
Background: Pretesting a questionnaire is an important activity before the start of the main epidemiological study.Aim: The study tested the reliability (internal consistency) of the modified ATS-DLD-78 adult respiratory diseases questionnaire developed by the British Medical Research Council.Results: The questionnaire was found to be reliable and admissible with an overall Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of α = 0.74.Conclusion: The questionnaire is a reliable instrument for data collection and can be a useful tool for collecting data in a developing country. The questionnaire will be used to study the association between respiratory and cardiovascular diseases among older people and community’s proximity to mine dumps