Description:
<jats:p>*** Psychometric characteristics of the Newcastle Asthma Knowledge Questionnaire (NAKQ) for parents of children with asthma ***AIMS: To analyze the psychometric characteristics identified by the Newcastle Asthma Knowledge Questionnaire (NAKQ) in parents of children with asthma.METHODS: Parents of children with asthma were recruited in outpatient follow-up with pediatric pulmonologists. Parents of children with no asthma diagnosis were recruited from public schools in the same city. The NAKQ has 31 items, being 25 questions with answers "true" or "false", and six open questions. The minimum score for knowledge is of 0 (zero) points with a maximum score of 31 points. In addition, the questionnaire is given a cutting point ≥ 21 points to satisfactory levels (suitable) and 21 for unsatisfactory levels < (inappropriate). For the analysis of precision of the instrument, we adopted three criteria: a) internal consistency through the alpha Cronbach (αC) coefficient; b) intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC); and b) test-retest using the Kappa coefficient. For the questionnaire validation, we analyzed the current validity criteria.RESULTS: One hundred and fifty four parents participated in this study, with 62 (40.3%) children with asthma and 92 (59.7%) without asthma, with a mean of 35.6±10.03 years and 132 (85.7%) females. High school was the most prevalent education level (n=72; 46.8%). The αC coefficient was 0.72 and 0.70, for the group of parents of asthmatics and of non-asthmatic children, respectively. The ICC was 0.703 (CI95%: 0.042-0.111) for parents of asthmatics and 0.687 (CI95%: 0.588-0.772) for parents of non-asthmatic. The degree of consistency in responses to each item on the repeated questionnaires, with application of the Kappa index, obtained acceptable values in 25 (80.65%), with eight issues (25.81%) classified as "good" and 17 (54.84%) as "very good".CONCLUSIONS: The NAKQ presented good internal consistency and repeatability indices, showing to be a precise and valid tool for measuring the level of knowledge about the disease in parents of Brazilian children with asthma.</jats:p>