Clinicians’ response ability for public health emergencies: a questionnaire development and validation study

Aims Public health emergencies (PHEs) are increasing in frequency. In particular, as a type of PHE, major infectious diseases lead to serious social disorders and dangerous harm to public health. The strength of clinicians’ response ability for PHEs is related to whether or not such events can be effectively controlled. However, the related research needs to be more sufficient. Therefore, this study aimed to build a theoretical framework and design a tool to evaluate clinicians’ response ability for PHE. Subject and Methods A total of 408 clinicians were selected to verify the questionnaire’s reliability and validity using the convenience sampling method. The Cronbach alpha coefficient and item analysis were performed using the t -test and correlation analysis to measure the scale’s internal consistency to test reliability. The construct validity was assessed using factor analysis, and content validity was tested based on the results of expert consultations. Results The theoretical framework of clinicians’ PHE response ability included three levels of knowledge, attitude, and skills based on various theories and standards. Good internal consistency was found for knowledge, attitude, and skills items (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.972, 0.977, and 0.984, respectively). Correlation and decision value tests were all statistically significant ( t > 3, P < 0.01; 0.65 < r < 0.8, P < 0.01). The S-CVI/AVE (scale-level content validity index/average variance extracted) of the scale was 0.96, and the item-level content validity index (I-CVI) of 52 items was between 0.77 and 1, according to the results of expert consultation. In addition, the implications obtained by exploratory factor methods were basically consistent with the theoretical assumptions, and the indicators obtained by confirmatory factor methods were in line with the requirements. Conclusion This study has constructed a theoretical framework of clinicians’ PHE response ability and a measurement tool of clinicians’ PHE response ability. The tool included 52 indicators at three levels of knowledge, attitude, and skills. The reliability and validity of the tool for PHEs were satisfactory among Chinese clinicians. This indicates that the questionnaire could be used to measure the response ability of the clinician’s target group.