Development and Psychometric Properties of the Human Papillomavirus-Know Questionnaire (HPV-Know-Q) to Assess the Knowledge of Women on HPV Infection and Related Outcomes.

AIM: To provide the psychometric properties of a novel patient-reported outcomes measurement (PROM), the HPV-Know-Q questionnaire, to assess the HPV-related knowledge in adult women in Spain.

METHODS

After reviewing literature and interviewing women with HPV infection, instrument items and domains were developed. A draft self-administered, multiple-choice questionnaire including relevant questions about HPV infection was pilot tested for comprehension and ease of completion. Psychometric evaluation of the final HPV-Know-Q questionnaire was performed in a cross-sectional, multicenter, validation study conducted in a representative sample of women with HPV infection attending gynecology consultations in Spain.

RESULTS

A total of 349 (153 HPV+/196 HPV-) women participated. HPV-Know-Q questionnaire had acceptable metric properties of feasibility, internal consistency and temporal stability (reliability). Construct validity was supported by analyzing item-to-item and item-to-domain correlation and know groups validity, which discriminated the knowledge on HPV of women related to their infection status, abnormal cytology, educational level and prior HPV vaccination. Concurrent validity was demonstrated with a significant correlation with other scales measuring mental and sexual functioning.

CONCLUSION

The HPV-Know-Q questionnaire, a novel and innovative PROM, showed acceptable psychometric properties to evaluate the HPV knowledge in women that support its use in daily medical practice and research.