Development and psychometric analysis of a tool to measure parents and teachers about preventive behaviors in adolescence about HIV/AIDS based on health belief model: An Iranian population and cultural based study

Introduction: The HIV/AIDS is spreading rapidly in the middle east and Iran. The health belief model is one of an appropriate model to assess the preventive behaviors. In this way, this study was conducted to design and evaluate the validity and reliability of a cultural-based psychometric instrument of AIDS in teachers and parents of Iranian students. Materials and Methods: A scale including 58 items relevant to preventive behaviors in AIDS/HIV was developed by reviewing literature.  Then, content and construct validity were evaluated using qualitative and quantitative methods, through the involvement of the participants and expert panel. The internal consistency was evaluated and approved using Cranach's alpha index, and test-retest analysis. Results: The face and content validity of the primary developed scale was confirmed by item impacts of 1.5, CVR 0.49 and CVI 0.79, and the number of items decreased to 46. Considerably, the exploratory factor analysis approved the construct validity by factor loading of more than 0.40 in six factors (perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefit, perceived barrier and perceived self-efficacy), including 35 items that jointly accounted for 59.49 % until 67.20% of the observed variance. The internal validity of the scale was approved by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the subscales ranged from .80 to .86 for each group, and the intra-class correlation coefficient ranged from 86 to .96. Conclusion: The results presented that the developed scale underpinning of the constructs of HBM in preventive behaviors of HIV/AIDs among students, teachers and parents had an appropriate validity; and an acceptable reliabliability.