Content validity and reliability of the danish version of health care students' attitudes towards addressing sexual health: a psychometric study

Background The Danish version of Health Care Students' Attitudes towards Addressing Sexual Health (SA-SH-D) is a questionnaire for measuring the attitudes of health care professional students' towards addressing sexual health in their future professional practice and care. Aim To assess content validity and reliability of the SA-SH-D. Method Following COSMIN guidelines, the study consisted of a cognitive interview study and a questionnaire study. Health care students from nursing, physiotherapy and occupational therapy programmes participated; seven were interviewed following the 'Think Aloud' method and 111 responded to two paper-based SA-SH-D administered with a two-week interval. Results The SA-SH-D was found to be relevant, comprehensive and comprehensible. Three suboptimal wordings were identified. Floor and ceiling effects were found for six items. Cronbach's alpha for the total scale was 0.84 indicating good internal consistency. After a two-week interval, the percentage of agreement per item ranged from 88.2% to 100% when allowing for a one-point difference. The mean agreement percentage for the overall scale was 95.2% when allowing for a one-point difference. Conclusion The Danish version of Health Care Students Attitudes towards Addressing Sexual Health is a valid and reliable questionnaire for measuring health care professional students' attitudes towards addressing sexual health in their future professional practice and care.