title: Evaluation of the content validity, internal consistency and stability of an instrument designed to assess the HIV/AIDS knowledge of university students.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study evaluated the content validity, internal consistency and stability of a questionnaire designed to assess the HIV/AIDS knowledge of young adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  The questionnaire was administered on two occasions, within two week intervals, to 219 university students in the USA (n=66), Turkey (n=53) and South Africa (n=100). The psychometric instrument contained demographic information questions and 45 knowledge questions regarding the HIV virus, ways of transmitting it, symptoms of HIV/AIDS infection and methods of prevention. Factor analysis was conducted to assess construct validity; Cronbach alphas and Pearson's product moment correlation (r) were calculated to evaluate internal consistency and stability, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 45 knowledge questions produced a Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (measure of sampling adequacy) value of 0.8133 and loaded on three factors with an overall Cronbach's alpha of 0.861. The r for the individual knowledge question was greater than 0.50 and the overall knowledge score was "almost perfect" (0.91; p<.001). For participating students from the USA, Turkey and South Africa, their r for the overall knowledge score was 0.80 (p<.001), 0.83 (p<.001) and 0.93 (p<.001), respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings revealed that the instrument is highly stable and internally consistent. The availability of this instrument may enhance HIV intervention studies internationally.
authors.affiliation: College of Health Sciences, Chicago State University, Chicago, Illinios 60628, USA. jbalogun@csu.edu
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Balogun
authors.forename: T C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Abiona
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lukobo-Durrell
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Adefuye
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Amosun
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Frantz
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yakut
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics; D013019:South Africa; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D014421:Turkey; D014481:United States; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult