title: Alternate forms of HIV prevention attitude scales for teenagers.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to develop valid, alternate-form scales to measure teenagers' attitudes toward prevention of the transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Using a three-component attitude model, a two-way table of specifications was constructed as a theoretical framework for generating attitudinal items relevant to HIV and HIV prevention. Thus, a large pool of Likert-type items was generated, reviewed for clarity and content validity, and prepared for the preliminary scale with 50 items. The scale was administered to 210 high school students. As a result of extensive analyses, two alternate forms with 15 items each were developed. The two forms were simultaneously administered to a sample of 600 high school students. The collected data were subjected to item analyses, factor analysis, and reliability estimation. The results of the analyses provided strong evidence of internal consistency, content validity, and comparability of both forms. The alternate reliability across the form was .82. The alpha reliability coefficients for forms A and B was .78 and .77 and the split-half .76 and .69, respectively. It is concluded that these alternate forms produce valid, reliable, and comparable results for measuring teenagers' attitudes toward HIV prevention. These forms are ideal for pretest/posttest designs used for evaluating educational approaches to HIV control.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Health Science, Indiana University, Bloomington 47405.
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Torabi
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yarber
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001290:Attitude; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011581:Psychological Tests