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| LETTER TO THE EDITOR |
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| Year : 2020 | Volume
: 25
| Issue : 1 | Page : 52 |
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Comment on: Knowledge and attitude regarding Zika virus disease among junior residents of a tertiary care hospital in Delhi, India
Hadi Esmaily1, Elmira Niknami2, Ali Saffaei2
1 Department of Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
2 Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Student Research Committee, School of Pharmacy, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| Date of Submission | 17-Jun-2019 |
| Date of Acceptance | 07-Sep-2019 |
| Date of Web Publication | 14-Apr-2020 |
Correspondence Address:
Dr. Ali Saffaei
Department of Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran
Iran
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/jmgims.jmgims_31_19
How to cite this article:
Esmaily H, Niknami E, Saffaei A. Comment on: Knowledge and attitude regarding Zika virus disease among junior residents of a tertiary care hospital in Delhi, India. J Mahatma Gandhi Inst Med Sci 2020;25:52 |
How to cite this URL:
Esmaily H, Niknami E, Saffaei A. Comment on: Knowledge and attitude regarding Zika virus disease among junior residents of a tertiary care hospital in Delhi, India. J Mahatma Gandhi Inst Med Sci [serial online] 2020 [cited 2023 Mar 28];25:52. Available from: https://www.jmgims.co.in/text.asp?2020/25/1/52/282352 |
Sir,
We read the last published article by Sulania and Khokhar[1] entitled “Knowledge and Attitude Regarding Zika Virus Disease among Junior Residents of a Tertiary Care Hospital in Delhi, India” with great interest.[2] This well-written article has addressed an important issue regarding Zika virus. Residents’ knowledge and attitude regarding medical issues are very important, which affect their future professional practice. Therefore, the authors of the mentioned article have selected this issue promptly. However, survey studies, similar to other studies, should follow a standard protocol in terms of methodology to evaluate the outcomes. The questionnaires offer an objective instrument for gathering information about knowledge, awareness, beliefs, attitudes, and practice.[3] One of the most important aspects in this regard is the process in which the questionnaire is designed. Anybody can write down a list of questions on the paper and photocopy it; however, preparation of such reports needs a valid process and appropriate design.[4] A valid process for developing a new questionnaire includes development of the primary draft of a questionnaire through an expert panel meeting, and then subsequently editing the questionnaire. The content validity should be evaluated; in other words, all the questions in the final questionnaire should be acceptable in point of clarity, representativeness, and comprehensiveness. Then, the internal consistency and reliability of the developed questionnaire must be evaluated in pilot studies.[5] The validity and reliability evaluation reassures the accuracy of the gathered information. Following this protocol is important in all survey-based studies. Sulania and Khokhar did not describe the questionnaire-designing process. The authors did not mention the method of preparing the first draft of the questionnaire, validity evaluation method, reliability evaluation method, internal consistency index, and other necessary indexes.
The attitude questions also seem to be not designed accurately. Only two questions are related to attitude. It is better to design more relevant questions, which are more appropriate to evaluate residents’ attitude. Furthermore, it is recommended that the Likert scale be used for attitude answers instead.[6] With all interoperations, we appreciate the valuable study conducted by Sulania and Khokhar; however, it is recommended to follow the abovementioned issues in future studies.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
| References | |  |
| 1. | Sulania A, Khokhar A. Knowledge and attitude regarding Zika virus disease among junior residents of a tertiary care hospital in Delhi, India. J Mahatma Gandhi Inst Med Sci 2019;24:39-43.  [Full text] |
| 2. | Sannathimmappa MB, Nambiar V, Arvindakshan R. Hepatitis B: Knowledge and awareness among preclinical year medical students. Avicenna J Med 2019;9:43-7. [ PUBMED] [Full text] |
| 3. | Boynton PM, Greenhalgh T. Selecting, designing, and developing your questionnaire. BMJ 2004;328:1312-5. |
| 4. | Rattray J, Jones MC. Essential elements of questionnaire design and development. J Clin Nurs 2007;16:234-43. |
| 5. | Considine J, Botti M, Thomas S. Design, format, validity and reliability of multiple choice questions for use in nursing research and education. Collegian 2005;12:19-24. |
| 6. | Sullivan GM, Artino AR Jr. Analyzing and interpreting data from Likert-type scales. J Grad Med Educ 2013;5:541-2. |
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