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HIV-KQ-18
For each statement, please circle True (T), False (F), or I dont know (DK). If you do not know, please
do not guess; instead, please circle DK.
4. A woman can get HIV if she has anal sex with a man. T F DK
10. A woman cannot get HIV if she has sex during her period. T F DK
12. A natural skin condom works better against HIV than does
a latex condom. T F DK
14. Having sex with more than one partner can increase a
persons chance of being infected with HIV. T F DK
15. Taking a test for HIV one week after having sex will tell a
person if she or he has HIV. T F DK
1 TRUE
2 FALSE
3 FALSE
4 TRUE
5 FALSE
6 FALSE
7 FALSE
8 FALSE
9 FALSE
10 FALSE
11 TRUE
12 FALSE
13 FALSE
14 TRUE
15 FALSE
16 FALSE
17 TRUE
18 FALSE
Original Spanish Translation Back Translation
1. Coughing and sneezing DO NOT spread 1. El toser o estornudar NO disemina el contagio de 1. Coughing or sneezing do not spread HIV
HIV VIH
2. A person can get HIV by sharing a glass of 2 .Una persona puede contagiarse con VIH si 2. A person can get HIV sharing a glass of water with
water with comparte un vaso de agua que ha utilizado una a person who has HIV
someone who has HIV persona infectada con VIH
3.Pulling out the penis before a man 3. Sacar el pene antes de que el varn eyacule evita 3. Pulling out the penis before a man ejaculates
climaxes/cums keeps que la mujer se contagie con el virus de VIH climax/cums keeps the woman from getting HIV
a woman from getting HIV during sex durante las relaciones sexuales. during sexual intercourse
4. A woman can get HIV if she has anal sex 4. Una mujer puede infectarse con el VIH, si tiene 4. A woman can get HIV if she has anal sex with a man
with a man Relaciones sexuales anales (sexo anal) con un
hombre
5. Showering, or washing ones genitals/private 5. Ducharse o lavarse los genitals/ partes privadas 5. Showering or washing genitals after having sex keep
parts, after sex keeps a person from getting HIV luego de una relacin sexual evita que la persona se the person from getting HIV
infecte con VIH.
6. All pregnant women infected with HIV will 6. Toda mujer embarazada, infectada con VIH, 6. All pregnant women with HIV, will have children
have babies tendr nios infectados con VIH. with HIV
born with AIDS
7. People who have been infected with HIV 7. Personas que estn infectadas con el VIH, 7. People who are infected with HIV, quickly show the
quickly show Rpidamente muestran los signos o sntomas de signs or symptoms of being infected
serious signs of being infected que est contagiado (a)
8. There is a vaccine that can stop adults from 8. Existe una vacuna que evita que la persona adulta 8. There is a vaccine that avoids adult from getting
getting HIV se infecte con el VIH HIV
9. People are likely to get HIV by deep kissing, 9. Las personas son ms propensas a infectarse 9.People are more likely to get HIV by deep kissing
putting their cuando se dan besos profundos (French kiss), o putting his/her tongue inside their partners infected
tongue in their partners mouth, if their partner colocan sus lenguas dentro de la boca de sus with HIV
has HIV parejas que est infectada con VIH
10. A woman cannot get HIV if she has sex 10. Una mujer no puede contagiarse con VIH si tiene 10. A woman can not HIV if she has sex during her
during her period relaciones sexuales durante su menstruacin menses (period)
11. There is a female condom that can help 11. Existe un condn femenino que ayuda a reducer 11. There is a female condom which can help reduce a
decrease a womans el riesgo de infectarse con VIH woman change of getting HIV
chance of getting HIV
12. A natural skin condom works better against 12. Un condn de piel es major para prevenir el 12. A swing condom is better preventing tha HIV
HIV than does contagio de VIH que un condn de latex. contagion than the latex condom
a latex condom.
13. A person will NOT get HIV if she or he is 13. Una persona que est tomando antibiticos no se 13. A person who is taking antibiotics will not get
taking antibiotics. contagiar con VIH si tiene relaciones sexuales infected with HIV if he/she has sex.
14. Having sex with more than one partner can 14. Tener relaciones sexuales con ms de una pareja 14. Having sex with more than one partner increases
increase a sexual aumenta la probalilidad de que se infecte the changes of getting infected with HIV
persons chance of being infected with HIV con VIH
15. Taking a test for HIV one week after having 15. Realizarse una prueba para determinar si se esta 15. Taking a test for HIV a week after having sex
sex will tell a infectado con VIH una semana despus de haber (sexual relations) will tell a person if he/she has HIV
person if she or he has HIV tenido relaciones sexuales, puede determinar si
la persona est infectada o no
16. A person can get HIV by sitting in a hot tub 16. Una persona puede infectarse con VIH 16. A person can get HIV by sharing a hot tub or a
or a swimming compartiendo un bao termal (yacuzzi) o una swimming pool with a person infected with HIV
pool with a person who has HIV piscina con una persona infectada con el VIH.
17. A person can get HIV from oral sex 17. Una persona puede contagiarse con VIH cuando 17. A person can get HIV from having oral sex
sostiene relaciones sexuales de forma oral
18. Using Vaseline or baby oil with condoms 18. Utilizar vaselina o aceite para beb con los 18. The use of vaseline or baby oil with condoms
lowers the chance of getting HIV condones reduce el riesgo de infectarse con VIH. reduces the risk of getting HIV
HIV Knowledge Questionnaire (HIV-K-Q)
For each statement, please circle True (T), False (F), or I Dont Know (DK). If you do not know,
please do not guess; instead, please circle DK.
10. A pregnant woman with HIV can give the virus to her
unborn baby. T F DK
12. A woman can get HIV if she has anal sex with a man. T F DK
14. Eating healthy foods can keep a person from getting HIV. T F DK
15. All pregnant women infected with HIV will have babies
born with AIDS. T F DK
18. People who have been infected with HIV quickly show
serious signs of being infected. T F DK
20. There is a vaccine that can stop adults from getting HIV. T F DK
21. Some drugs have been made for the treatment of AIDS. T F DK
22. Women are always tested for HIV during their pap smears. T F DK
24. A person can get HIV even if she or he has sex with
another person only one time. T F DK
26. People are likely to get HIV by deep kissing, putting their
tongue in their partners mouth, if their partner has HIV. T F DK
28. A woman cannot get HIV if she has sex during her period. T F DK
29. You can usually tell if someone has HIV by looking at them. T F DK
31. A natural skin condom works better against HIV than does
a latex condom. T F DK
33. Having sex with more than one partner can increase a
persons chance of being infected with HIV. T F DK
True False Dont
Know
34. Taking a test for HIV one week after having sex will tell a
person if she or he has HIV. T F DK
36. A person can get HIV through contact with saliva, tears,
sweat, or urine. T F DK
39. If a person tests positive for HIV, then the test site will
have to tell all of his or her partners. T F DK
42. A woman can get HIV if she has vaginal sex with a
man who has HIV. T F DK
44. Douching after sex will keep a woman from getting HIV. T F DK
61
1090-7165/97ABMX)61J12.5(M> O 1997 Plenum Publishing Corporation
62 Carey, Morrison-Beedy, and Johnson
ior change begin with an understanding of the de- and evidence of the validity of this measure has been
terminants of risk behavior. Several models have modest. Moreover, the ARBKT uses a "true-or-false"
been proposed to explain HIV-related risk behavior. response format, increasing the likelihood that respon-
Prominent among these are the AIDS Risk Reduc- dents may guess, which adds error variance to test
tion Model (Catania et al., 1990) and the Informa- scores. Finally, for our purposes (i.e., use with low-lit-
tion-Motivation-Behavioral Skills model (Fisher and eracy adults), the ARBKT is limited because it was
Fisher, 1992). Both models identify knowledge (in- developed with participants who were relatively well-
formation) as an important determinant of risk be- educated (M = 14.4 years; Kelly et al., 1989).
havior. Accordingly, most intervention programs Dancy (1991) developed the AIDS Knowledge,
provide information about HIV-related transmission Feelings, and Behavior Questionnaire (AKFBQ) spe-
and prevention to help participants to reduce their cifically for use with African American women. The
risk of infection. In addition, these models invoke AKFBQ contains 107 items, of which 40 items are de-
motivational constructs, such as perceived threat or voted to the assessment of HIV-related knowledge. Al-
risk, which require an accurate knowledge of the con- though few details were provided regarding scale
sequences of HIV infection. To evaluate the validity development or item analyses, factor analysis on the
of these models and to determine the effectiveness Knowledge subtest of the AKFBQ yielded a 15-factor
of interventions guided by them requires a reliable solution; this solution was not rotated or replicated,
and valid measure of HIV knowledge. and there was no discussion of its interpretation. Cron-
Several authors have developed measures to as- bach's alpha (.66) was reported for the entire subtest,
sess HIV-related knowledge. Zimet (1992) described despite the factor solution. The validity of the
a 22-item measure for adolescents that was based AKFBQ Knowledge subtest has not been examined.
upon a Centers for Disease Control (1988) brochure. Thus, although several measures of HIV-related
He reported that the test was internally consistent knowledge have been developed and described, few
(Kuder-Richardson formula 20 coefficient of .77), have been adequately evaluated. The measure that has
but did not provide information on test development been evaluated most thoroughly, namely the ARBKT
or refinement. Item, factor, or validity analyses were (Kelly et al., 1989), was evaluated primarily with data
not conducted (or reported). Koopman et al. (1990) provided by well-educated gay men. Given (a) the dif-
also developed a measure for adolescents, the AIDS fusion of HIV disease into multiple communities (in-
Knowledge Test (AKT), a 52-item measure of HIV- cluding heterosexual women), (b) the need to evaluate
and AIDS-related knowledge. The AKT assesses six educational and risk reduction programs, and (c) the
domains (i.e., definitions, outcomes, risk behavior, absence of an appropriate measure of HIV-related
transmission, prevention, and HIV testing); however, knowledge, the purpose of this program of research
no factor analyses have been reported to confirm this was to develop and evaluate a self-administered ques-
tionnaire to measure knowledge about HIV infection.
factor structure. Moreover, reliability analyses within
We sought to develop a measure that was reliable and
these domains indicated poor internal consistencies
valid, understandable to those with low-literacy skills,
(Cronbach's coefficient alphas ranged from .00 to
and appropriate for use regardless of respondent age,
.57, M = .43); collapsing across these domains
gender, and/or sexual orientation. Our aim was to de-
yielded a more reliable coefficient (alpha = .82) that
velop a measure that was brief but sensitive, so that
was stable (i.e., test-retest reliability of .82 for 1 week
it could be used in the evaluation of focused HlV-edu-
[Koopman et al., 1990]). The validity of the AKT has
cational, risk reduction, testing, and counseling pro-
not been examined.
grams. We anticipated that such a measure might also
Kelly et al. (1989) described the AIDS Risk Be- be useful in theoretical model building and testing,
havior Knowledge Test (ARBKT), a standardized 40-
and in clinical (e.g., primary care) settings.
item measure that they developed for use with gay
men. These authors provided detailed information re-
garding test construction and development; they also
conducted item, factor, and reliability analyses and at- STUDY 1. SCALE CONSTRUCTION AND
tempted to validate the ARBKT by examining pre- (M FORMATIVE EVALUATION
= 87%) and post-scores (M = 93%) of 33 men who
underwent an AIDS education seminar. However, the The initial phase of the research involved an ex-
factor structure of the ARBKT has not been replicated plicit articulation of the domain to be evaluated and
HIV-Knowledge Questionnaire 63
the generation of items (Dawis, 1987; Haynes et al., infection (Rosenberg, 1995). These focus groups
1995). New information regarding HIV and AIDS were cofacilitated by a culturally diverse team of two
emerges daily, but most of this information is not di- women, a doctoral-level nurse and a masters-level
rectly relevant to the general public (i.e., non-health social worker; both facilitators had extensive expe-
professionals). Because our primary interest involves rience in women's sexual health. Material provided
direct service delivery to the general public, particu- by the participants confirmed that myths about cas-
larly economically disadvantaged individuals who ual transmission (e.g., by insect bite, hugging, or
tend to be less well-educated, we sought to develop kissing) and incorrect ideas regarding prevention
a measure that assessed basic knowledge rather than (e.g., using birth control pills or douching) remained
the more sophisticated knowledge required of a prevalent. In addition, we learned that accurate
health-care provider. Therefore, the generation of knowledge regarding accepted transmission vectors
items was informed by three sources. (e.g., anal sex) and effective prevention strategies
First, we studied carefully several existing meas- (e.g., male and female condom) remained incom-
ures (e.g., Dancy, 1991; Kelly et al., 1989; Koopman plete. Participants also were poorly informed about
et al., 1990; Zimet, 1992). We noted that prior meas- the role of antibody testing, and the treatment of
ures (a) unintentionally encouraged guessing be- HIV disease.
cause they did not provide an "I don't know" option; Guided by these archival, professional, and gen-
(b) contained attitudinal as well as knowledge items; eral public sources, we developed the HIV-Knowl-
(c) included items for which the correct answer was edge Questionnaire (HIV-K-Q), a 68-item
unclear due to newly emerging facts; and (d) con- self-administered questionnaire that tapped HIV
tained few items relevant to women's concerns. We transmission (e.g., vaginal, anal, and oral sexual in-
remained mindful of these limitations as we devel- tercourse; blood products; needle sharing; and per-
oped items. inatal), nontransmission (e.g., saliva, insect bites,
Second, we consulted with eight local and na- touching, sharing food), effective risk reduction
tional HIV and AIDS educators and researchers, in- strategies (e.g., male and female condom, absti-
cluding faculty at the Center for AIDS Intervention nence, monogamy following antibody testing), inef-
Research (Milwaukee, WI) and Syracuse University, fective (e.g., douching, birth control pills, vaccine)
and HIV educators from a local AIDS service or- prevention methods, and consequences of infection
ganization. These experts were interviewed to deter- (e.g., asymptomatic period, treatment, disease
mine what they perceived to be the most relevant course).
and immutable facts. More than ten overlapping do- These 68 items were then distributed to six
mains were identified. These domains comprised HIV experts who provided critiques of the items'
transmission vectors, myths regarding casual trans- wording, content, and relevance to HIV risk reduc-
mission, risk reduction strategies, consequences of in- tion. Based upon this feedback, 6 items were
dropped because they were redundant with other
fection, and treatment of HIV disease.
items, or were deemed not sufficiently important.
Third, we held a series of eight focus groups
Minor revisions were made to the remaining 62
with 45 low-income women to learn what informa-
items to clarify the content and reduce the reading
tion and myths were widely held in the community
level of the items; the final set of 62 items appears
(Carey et al., in press a; see Zeller, 1993). The av-
in Table I.
erage participant was 26 years old, with a high
school education, who had two children; the major-
ity of participants were African American, single,
unemployed, with a family income of less than $8000 STUDY 2. ITEM AND FACTOR ANALYSES
per year. Most of the women reported that they had
been tested for HIV, but none reported that she was The purposes of Study 2 were (a) to obtain a
infected. We purposely included ethnic minority sample that was diverse with respect to age, gender,
women with limited educational backgrounds be- ethnicity, income, educational attainment, and antici-
cause prior instrument development had tended not pated HIV-related knowledge; (b) to administer the
to include participants from this socioeconomic 62-item HIV-K-Q; and (c) to conduct item and factor
background, and current epidemiological evidence analyses on these data in order to reduce and refine
suggested that such persons are at increased risk of the measure, and determine its factor structure.
64 Carey, Morrison-Beedy, and Johnson
Table I. Continued
Item
number*
Scale Scale Percent s for Item-
A B correct item total/' Item
53 21.82 .41 .11 Taking the AIDS drug AZT lowers the chance of a pregnant woman with HIV giving it to
her baby*
54 18.83 .39 .24 Outside of the USA, most cases of AIDS resulted because of IV (needle) drug use or men
having sex with men
55 38 63.53 .48 .36 A person can get HIV if having oral sex, mouth on vagina, with a woman*
56 39 51.27 .50 .34 If a person tests positive for HIV, then the test site will have to tell all of his or her partners
57 40 79.97 .40 .47 Using Vaseline or baby oil with condoms lowers the chance of getting HIV
58 41 80.57 .40 .40 Washing drug-use equipment with cold water kills HIV
59 42 93.42 .25 .33 A woman can get HIV if she has vaginal sex with a man who has HIV*
60 43 89.39 .31 .32 Athletes who share needles when using steroids can get HIV from the needles*
61 44 87.59 .33 .45 Douching after sex will keep a woman from getting HIV
62 45 90.58 .29 .46 Taking vitamins keeps a person from getting HIV
"Items marked with daggers (t) are true, those without are false.
*Items were dropped due either to low item-total correlations or to restriction of range.
Tor total of 56 items remaining after dropping the items with restriction of range (5, 10, 13, 18, 22, and 31) and subtracting the item
to be correlated.
Procedures
Means and standard deviations for the 62 HIV-
All participants completed a self-administered K-Q items from the primary care, university students,
survey that included the 62-item HIV-K-Q. Proce- and experts (N = 669) were calculated (see Table I).
dures for recruitment of participants and data col- Examination of the percent correct reveals that six
lection varied by setting. The primary care patients items were too easy (i.e., Mean >95% correct); these
66 Carey, Morrison-Beedy, and Johnson
Table II. Demographic Characteristics and HIV-Knowledge Questionnaire Scores Overall and Within Samples0
Study and sample
Study 2 Study 3
Community
Overall HIV/AIDS Primary care University Couples women
Demographic characteristic (N = 1033) experts (n = 40) (n = 350) (n = 279) (n = 152) (n = 212)
M age in years (s) 30.59 (11.56) 36.66 (9.38) 34.99 (12.97) 20.11 (1.95) 34.70 (6.79) 33.85 (11.18)
Gender
Females 694 (67%) 23 (58%) 241 (69%) 145 (52%) 76 (50%) 212 (100%)
Males 303 (29%) 16 (40%) 87 (25%) 124 (44%) 76 (50%) 0 (0%)
Not specified 36 (3%) 1 (3%) 22 (6%) 10 (4%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Race
European American 591 (57%) 19 (48%) 190 (54%) 218 (78%) 141 (93%) 23 (11%)
African American 329 (32%) 16 (40%) 119 (34%) 29 (10%) 6 (4%) 159 (75%)
Native American 31 (3%) 1 (3%) 17 (5%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 13 (13%)
Hispanic American 30 (3%) 1 (3%) 11 (3%) 10 (4%) 0 (0%) 8 (4%)
Other or not specified 52 (5%) 3 (8%) 13 (4%) 22 (8%) 5 (3%) 9 (4%)
M number of children (s) 1.99 (1.68) 1.92 (1.73) 1.88 (1.52) 2.17 (1.71)
M education in years (s) 12.54 (2.40) 16.46 (2.72) 11.80 (1.78) 14.22 (2.37) 11.82 (1.89)
Household income level
Less than $10,000 228 (22%) 104 (30%) 0 (0%) 124 (58%)
$10,001-20,000 165 (16%) 104 (30%) 7 (5%) 54 (25%)
$20,001-30,000 134 (13%) 72 (21%) 45 (30%) 17 (8%)
$30,001-40,000 89 (9%) 30 (9%) 52 (34%) 7 (3%)
Greater than $40,000 60 (6%) 7 (2%) 48 (32%) 5 (2%)
Unknown 357 (35%) 40 (100%) 33 (9%) 279 (100%) 0 (0%) 3 (1%)
Internal consistency, .91 .85 .88 .83 .93 .91
45-item HIV-K-Q (a)
M HIV-K-Q proportion .72 (.18) .91 (.10) .69 (.17) .82 (.12) .52 (.14) .72 (.19)
correct (s)
"Due to rounding of individual percentage values, the sum of percentages sometimes differs from 100%.
items (numbered 5,10,13,18, 22, and 31 under Scale as acceptable; 11 items whose item-total correlations
A, Table I) were deleted.4 were less than .30 were deleted (numbered 6, 23, 24,
The standard deviations of the remaining 56 26, 34, 36, 39, 43, 52, 53, 54 under Scale A, 'Eible I).
items revealed that there was sufficient variability to The remaining 45 items (Scale B, Table I) were used
retain these items. Next, point-biserial correlations of in subsequent analyses.
each item with the 56-item total score were calcu-
lated. An item-total correlation > .25 was established
Factor Analyses
4Because the primary use of the HIV-K-Q will be for the evalu- We performed a principal factor analysis on the
ation of educational and risk reduction programs, it is appropri- 45-item HIV-K-Q and employed two criteria to de-
ate to delete items that the vast majority of respondents answer termine the number of factors to be retained: (a)
correctly. This approach allows the generation of a relatively Kaiser-Guttman's criterion (i.e., factors with an
brief test that results in a more normalized distribution of scores
eigen value of greater than 1), and (b) examination
for the general population. However, this item-analytic approach
may be less appropriate for some clinical applications where the of the scree plot. Four factors met the Kai-
questionnaire will be used for ideographic assessment purposes ser-Guttman criterion, explaining 59%, 13%, 10%,
(e.g., to identify high-risk knowledge deficits). Thus, although the and 8% of the variance, respectively. Because the
items deleted at this stage of scale development do not add ap- scree plot confirmed that eigen values leveled off af-
preciably to the scale for its primary purpose, they remain "criti-
ter the fourth factor, only four factors were retained.
cal" knowledge items for clinical use; these items can and should
be used in settings where an assessor needs to be certain that An oblique rotation revealed highly intercorrelated
respondents have the essential knowledge necessary to avoid in- factors |.42 < r < .581 that each correlated highly
fection with HIV. with the 45-item total score (| r \s < .72), and the
HIV-Knowledge Questionnaire 67
acteristics for the entire sample and for each sub- strate more knowledge than the college students,
sample can be found in Table II. who, in turn, would demonstrate more knowledge
Analyses of the test-retest stability made use of than the community samples.
data from two sources. First, a subset of the urban
women's sample ( = 33) completed the HIV-K-Q
Methods
on three occasions; the first occasion as described in
Study 3, and then again at 2-week and 12-week retest
Participants from the five subsamples described
sessions. Second, a subset of the university students
in Studies 2 and 3 (N = 1,033) provided data for
also completed the HIV-K-Q on two occasions, sepa-
these analyses.
rated by approximately one week. Procedures for the
retest sessions were identical to those used for the
initial data collection. Results
The women completed the HIV-K-Q independently 1 the entire battery in order to minimize the response
week before and 1 week after the program. burden placed on participants.
The Social Desirability Scale (SDS; Crowne and
Marlowe, 1960) contains 33 true/false items and
Results
measures the tendency to present oneself in a socially
Scores on the HIV-K-Q indicated that women desirable manner. The SDS is internally consistent
(alpha = .88) and stable (test-retest reliability r =
assigned to the intervention condition significantly
.89 at 1 month).
unproved their scores from pre- (M = 75%) to post-
intervention (M = 87%) assessments, f(42) = 6.08, The Center for Epidemiological Studies Depressed
p = .0001, d = 0.90. In contrast, women in the con- Mood Scale (CES-D; Radloff, 1977) contains 20
trol condition of this study did not improve their items designed to measure depressive symptoms in
the general population. When used with the general
scores, M = 71% and M = 72%, respectively, f(31)
population, the CES-D has an alpha of .85, with
= 0.79, p > .10, d = 0.13.
test-retest correlations that range from .51 to .67
when tested over 2-8 weeks.
The Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS;
STUDY 7. VALIDITY: DISCRIMINANT Watson et al., 1988) contains two 10-item mood
EVIDENCE scales that provide independent measures of positive
and negative affect. Positive affect reflects the extent
The purpose of Study 7 was to assemble dis- to which an individual feels enthusiastic, active, and
criminant evidence to evaluate the validity of the alert, whereas negative affect provides an index of
HIV-K-Q. Discriminant evidence obtains when meas- subjective distress, anger, and nervousness. Both
ures not expected to correlate or not to correlate PANAS scales are internally consistent (alphas range
very highly with the target measure show this ex- from .84 to .90), and stable (rs = .86 to .87).
pected pattern (Kazdin, 1995; Campbell and Fiske, The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES; Wylie,
1959). Therefore, we selected reliable and valid in- 1977) is a widely used measure that provides an in-
struments that measure important psychological con- dex of an individual's sense of his or her general
structs (i.e., social desirability, mood, and self- worth or value.
esteem) that might influence responses to the HIV- The Multidimensional Condom Attitudes Scale
K-Q as well as other constructs (i.e., dyadic and sex- (MCAS; Helweg-Larson and Collins, 1994) contains
ual adjustment, attitudes toward condoms) that, 25 statements about condoms and yields five attitude
although not directly related to HIV knowledge, are scores: reliability of condoms, pleasure of condom
indirectly related because of a common association use, identity stigma associated with condom use, em-
with sexual health. We did not expect to find signifi- barrassment about negotiation and use of condoms,
cant associations between any of these variables and and embarrassment about the purchase of condoms.
the HIV-K-Q. Internal consistency of factors range from .67 to 94
for men and .44 to .92 for women.
The Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS; Spanier,
Methods 1976) contains 32 items and provides a general meas-
ure of satisfaction in an intimate relationship. The
Participants from the university student and cou- DAS has an alpha of .96, with a test-retest of .87.
ple subsamples described in Studies 2 and 3 provided The Index of Sexual Satisfaction (ISS; Hudson et
data for these analyses. These participants completed al., 1981) is a 25-item measure of the degree, sever-
additional measures at the same time that they had ity, or magnitude of problems in the sexual compo-
completed the HIV-K-Q. The university students nent of a couple's relationship. The ISS has a mean
completed the Social Desirability Scale, Positive and alpha of .92, with a 2-hr test-retest of .94.
Negative Affect Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale,
and Multidimensional Condom Attitudes Scale,
whereas the couples completed the Social Desirabil- Results
ity Scale, Center for Epidemiological Studies Depres-
sion Scale, Index of Sexual Satisfaction, and Dyadic Discriminant evidence was provided by the ab-
Adjustment Scale. No sample was asked to complete sence of significant correlations between the HIV-K-
70 Carey, Morrison-Beedy, and Johnson
Q and (a) the SDS, using either the undergraduate Knowledge Test, and a demographic survey in a wait-
sample, r(271) = -.09, or the couples, r(148) = -.09; ing room as they waited to be seen.
(b) positive or negative mood subscales from the The AIDS Risk Behavior Knowledge Test
PANAS, r(277) = .00 and r(277) = -.05, respec- (ARBKT; Kelly et al., 1989) is a 40-item measure of
tively; (c) the RSES, r(268) = -.05; (d) any of the AIDS risk behavior knowledge. The ARBKT has
five subscales from the MCAS, rs ranging from -.05 been judged to be internally consistent (KR-20 =
to .11; (e) the CESD, r(148) = -.11; (f) the DAS, .74) and stable (i.e., test-retest r = .84 over 2 weeks
r(148) = .16; or (g) the ISS, r(148) = -.05. [Kelly et al., 1989]).
The AIDS Knowledge Test (AKT; Koopman et al.,
1990) is a 52-item measure of HIV- and AIDS-related
STUDY 8. VALIDITY: CONVERGENT EVIDENCE knowledge. The AKT has been judged to be internally
consistent (i.e., Cronbach's alpha = .82) and stable
The purpose of Study 8 was to assemble con- (i.e., test-retest r = .82 over 1 week [Koopman et al.,
vergent evidence for the validity of the HIV-K-Q. 1990]).
Convergent evidence obtains when the measure be- These two measures were selected as the best
ing validated correlates with other measures that are available similar measures of HIV-related knowledge.
designed to assess the same or related constructs As we noted in the Introduction, these measures
(Kazdin, 1995; Campbell and Fiske, 1959). We an- have proven useful with the populations for whom
ticipated strong, positive associations between scores they were developed, but they may be less appropri-
on the HIV-K-Q and two extant measures of HIV- ate for low-literacy adult men and women.
related knowledge. However, because such correla-
tions between self-administered questionnaires may
also occur as a result of shared method variance Results
(Kazdin, 1995), we also examined the association be-
tween HIV-knowledge scores and level of educa- HIV-K-Q scores correlated with both the AIDS
tional attainment. Prior research (Peruga and Risk Behavior Knowledge Test, r(48) = .42, p < .005,
Celentano, 1993) suggested a positive association be- and the AIDS Knowledge Test, r(47) = .56, p <
tween these two variables, which is what we expected .0001. Using the larger sample, the HIV-K-Q scores
to find. were correlated with higher levels of educational at-
tainment, r(386) = .48, p < .0001.
Methods
min. The time to complete the HIV-K-Q was unre- two related measures, the ARBKT (Kelly et at., 1989)
lated to the score attained on it, r (48) = .02. The and the AKT (Koopman et al., 1990). The magnitude
mean time to respond to any given item ranged from of these associations (r = .42 and r = .56, respectively)
a low of 2.73 sec (for item 2 on Scale B, see Table I) is in the "moderate" range, and provides adequate
to a high of 10.28 sec (for item 41). support for the validity of all three measures (Kazdin,
1995).5 However, it is interesting that these correla-
tions did not differ from the correlation between the
DISCUSSION HIV-K-Q and level of educational attainment (r =
.48). It cannot be determined whether these moderate
correlations reflect upon the HIV-K-Q, ARBKT; or
The purpose of this study was to develop and AKT However, we can say that the magnitude of a
evaluate the psychometric properties of the HIV- validity coeffient is limited by the underlying reliabili-
Knowledge Questionnaire. Formative research ties of the measures being associated (Nunnally and
guided the generation of a 62-item scale that as- Bernstein, 1994). It is also likely that the reliability of
sessed knowledge about the transmission, prevention, self-report of level of educational attainment is greater
and consequences of HIV infection. Item analyses in- than are the reliabilities of the three knowledge meas-
dicated that 17 of the 62 items should be deleted be- ures. Mindful of these considerations, the relatively
cause of item ease or poor association with the total equivalent correlations among the knowledge meas-
scale. Many of the items deleted can be considered ures and educational attainment are logical.
"critical items," that is, items containing essential As expected, analyses of known groups indicated
public health knowledge regarding HIV transmission that experts were better informed that college stu-
and prevention. These items describe risk associated dents, who in turn were more knowledgeable than
with needle-sharing, men who have sex with men, were the community samples. An unexpected finding,
and heterosexual vaginal sex (Scale A, items 5, 13, however, was that primary care and urban women
and 18, respectively). It is comforting to know that were more knowledgeable than were the community
more than 95% of our sample answered these items couples. One explanation for this finding is that, rela-
correctly, and it is appropriate to delete such items tive to the two other samples, the community couples
for our purposes (i.e., program evaluation). However, might feel less compelled to stay informed regarding
these items may prove useful in certain clinical set- HIV because of (a) their (presumably) exclusive sexual
tings where idiographic assessment of high-risk indi- relationship with a partner and (b) the relatively lower
viduals is necessary; knowledge of such material rates of HIV infection in middle-income communities.
should never be assumed in clinical and counseling Overall, the results reported herein demonstrate
settings with an individual client. that the HIV-K-Q is a psychometrically strong instru-
Principal factor analyses of the remaining 45 ment that compares favorably to extant measures.
items suggested that a single-factor could account for That is, although several authors have developed in-
a significant amount of the variance; this single-factor struments to assess HIV-related knowledge, none of
solution was replicated in a cross-validation sample. these measures has been thoroughly evaluated; for
Thus, these analyses demonstrate that the HIV-K-Q is example, most extant measures have not been factor
a unidimensional instrument that measures HlV-re- analyzed nor evaluated for validity. The psychomet-
lated knowledge. Reliability analyses indicated that the rically strongest measure is the ARBKQ (Kelly et al.,
HIV-K-Q is internally consistent and stable over inter- 1989), but this measure was developed only with col-
vals as long as 3 months. Validity analyses revealed, as lege students and gay men and is written at a 9th-
expected, that the HIV-K-Q is not associated with or 10th-grade reading level. Although this measure
other constructs, including social desirability, negative has proven useful with the population with which it
or positive mood, self-esteem, depression, dyadic ad- was developed, it is less appropriate for low-literacy
justment, sexual satisfaction, or attitudes toward con- men and women, groups most at risk in the second
doms. As expected, however, the HIV-K-Q is wave of the AIDS epidemic (Kelly et al., 1993).
associated with level of educational attainment, with
better educated respondents scoring higher on the
HIV-K-Q (Peruga and Celentano, 1993).
An additional source of validity evidence was pro- Confidence in the validity of the HIV-K-Q can be much greater
vided by the association between the HIV-K-Q and due to the other sources of evidence described previously.
HIV-Knowledge Questionnaire 73
It is increasingly apparent that many diseases Nursing Research to D.M.B. The authors thank
pose a disproportionate threat to those who are eco- Thomas Bazydlo, Jesse Dowdell, Ann Goodgion,
nomically disadvantaged (Marmot et al., 1987; Wil- Gary Urquhart, and Monique Wright-Williams for
liams, 1990); the epidemiology of HIV disease their assistance with recruitment; Laura Braaten,
(Rosenberg, 1995) provides but one illustration of Lauren Durant, Andrew Forsyth, Christopher Gor-
this pattern. The economically disadvantaged, in don, Beth Jaworksi, Daniel Purnine, Lance Wein-
turn, are more likely to be functionally illiterate, or hardt, and Ednita Wright for their help with data
at least unable to read at levels required by many collection; Jack Gleason for developing the data-
self-administered questionnaires (Williams et al., checking software; June Crawford for assistance with
1995). Therefore, to the extent that test developers the readability formulas; Kathy Sikkema, Seth Ka-
seek to provide instruments that are relevant to those lichman, Tim Heckman, David Rompa, David Wag-
most in need, it is essential that self-report measures staff, Nina Wright, Sue Taylor-Brown, Deborah
be designed with low-literacy respondents in mind. McLean, Andrew Forsyth, Christopher Gordon, and
For those adults and adolescents who cannot read at Jeffrey Kelly for their expert consultation; and
even a 6th grade level, new assessment modalities Stephen Haynes for his thoughtful suggestions re-
will need to be developed. For example, audiotaped garding the improvement of this manuscript, espe-
(Boekeloo et al., 1994) or compact disc-administered cially the caveats contained in footnote 4.
questionnaires may prove helpful in some contexts.
The development and psychometric evaluation of
a reliable and valid knowledge measure, based upon
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