[Development and testing of a preparedness and response capacity questionnaire in public health emergency for Chinese provincial and municipal governments].
OBJECTIVE
To develop a capacity questionnaire in public health emergency for Chinese local governments.


METHODS
Literature reviews, conceptual modelling, stake-holder analysis, focus group, interview, and Delphi technique were employed together to develop the questionnaire. Classical test theory and case study were used to assess the reliability and validity.


RESULTS
(1) A 2-dimension conceptual model was built. A preparedness and response capacity questionnaire in public health emergency with 10 dimensions and 204 items, was developed. (2) Reliability and validity results. Internal consistency: except for dimension 3 and 8, the Cronbach's alpha coefficient of other dimensions was higher than 0.60. The alpha coefficients of dimension 3 and dimension 8 were 0.59 and 0.39 respectively; Content validity: the questionnaire was recognized by the investigatees; Construct validity: the Spearman correlation coefficients among the 10 dimensions fluctuated around 0.50, ranging from 0.26 to 0.75 (P<0.05); Discrimination validity: comparisons of 10 dimensions among 4 provinces did not show statistical significance using One-way analysis of variance (P>0.05). Criterion-related validity: case study showed significant difference among the 10 dimensions in Beijing between February 2003 (before SARS event) and November 2005 (after SARS event).


CONCLUSIONS
The preparedness and response capacity questionnaire in public health emergency is a reliable and valid tool, which can be used in all provinces and municipalities in China.
Hu
Guo-Qing
GQ
Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha 410078, China.
Rao
Ke-Qin
KQ
Sun
Zhen-Qiu
ZQ
D002681:China; D003153:Community Health Services; D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000458:organization & administration; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D011634:Public Health / Q000193:education; D018570:Risk Assessment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires