title: Assessing perceptions about hazardous substances (PATHS): the PATHS questionnaire.
abstract: How people perceive the nature of a hazardous substance may determine how they respond when potentially exposed to it. We tested a new Perceptions AbouT Hazardous Substances (PATHS) questionnaire. In Study 1 (N = 21), we assessed the face validity of items concerning perceptions about eight properties of a hazardous substance. In Study 2 (N = 2030), we tested the factor structure, reliability and validity of the PATHS questionnaire across four qualitatively different substances. In Study 3 (N = 760), we tested the impact of information provision on Perceptions AbouT Hazardous Substances scores. Our results showed that our eight measures demonstrated good reliability and validity when used for non-contagious hazards.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Medicine , King's College London, UK. Gideon.rubin@kcl.ac.uk
authors.forename: G James
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Rubin
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Amlôt
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Page
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pearce
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wessely
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D015386:Hazardous Substances; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015386:Hazardous Substances
keywords: beliefs; communication; information; public health psychology; risk