Document Type : Original Article
Authors
Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIM: Considering the important role of universities in advancing educational,
social, cultural, economic, and political affairs and given the significant and effective role of social
determinants of health (SDH) in personal and social life, this study aimed to design a preliminary
questionnaire to assess the awareness and attitude of students and professors of relevant medical
sciences departments toward the SDH.
METHODS: This is a descriptive survey study of the instrumentation type and is done on the
students and professors of Isfahan and Kashan medical sciences universities in 2019. The
content and face validity of the questionnaire were assessed. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and
the correlation coefficient for each question as well as the total score of the questionnaire were
reported for this attitude measurement questionnaire. The difficulty coefficient, optimum difficulty
level, discrimination coefficient, and the relevant variance were calculated for every question in the
awareness measurement questionnaire.
RESULTS: The internal consistency of the questionnaire for the awareness toward the SDH for 15
questions was 0.742. This consistency was acceptable for 18 questions in the attitude measurement
questionnaire after omitting two questions with not appropriate distinguishing ability. The difficulty
level of the questions was relatively high.
CONCLUSION: Given that no tool was observed in the search strategy to measure the SDH,
therefore, the design and psychometrics of such a tool can be used to measure the awareness and
attitude of the target audiences; since this tool had an acceptable validity and reliability at its initial
stages, researchers are suggested to apply it for standardization in different academic societies.
Keywords
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