Content validity and reliability of The Danish version of Health Care Students Attitudes towards Addressing Sexual Health - A psychometric study

Background: The Danish version of Health Care Students' Attitudes towards Addressing Sexual Health (SA-SH-D) is a questionnaire for measuring the attitudes of health care professional students' towards addressing sexual health in their future professional practice and care.

Aim: To assess content validity and reliability of the SA-SH-D.

Method: Following COSMIN guidelines, the study consisted of a cognitive interview study and a questionnaire study. Health care students from nursing, physiotherapy and occupational therapy programmes participated; seven were interviewed following the 'Think Aloud' method and 111 responded to two paper-based SA-SH-D administered with a two-week interval.

Results: The SA-SH-D was found to be relevant, comprehensive and comprehensible. Three suboptimal wordings were identified. Floor and ceiling effects were found for six items. Cronbach's α for the total scale was 0.84 indicating good internal consistency. After a two-week interval, the percentage of agreement per item ranged from 88.2% to 100% when allowing for a one-point difference. The mean agreement percentage for the overall scale was 95.2% when allowing for a one-point difference.

Conclusion: The Danish version of Health Care Students Attitudes towards Addressing Sexual Health is a valid and reliable questionnaire for measuring health care professional students' attitudes towards addressing sexual health in their future professional practice and care.