Development and validation of a questionnaire to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of renal failure patients towards their disease

For low-income and middle-income countries, kidney illness and death from renal failure are significant, but little recorded, burdens. Questionnaires are being employed more often to determine patients' perceptions concerning medical and non-medical care. A combination of knowledge, attitude, and practices towards renal failure can greatly impact a person's ability to effectively manage their condition and lead a fulfilling life despite the challenges posed by this medical condition.

A KAP (Knowledge, Attitude and Practices) questionnaire was drafted after a thorough literature search. The validity was assessed using face validity and content validity techniques. User testing and feedback was carried out with the questionnaire to know the feasibility and reliability of the questionnaire for further studies. A cross-sectional study was carried out further to assess basic behavior of patients and effectiveness of questionnaire.

The final questionnaire was drafted with two sections. The questionnaire was subjected to face validity, content validity and user testing.The Cronbach alpha yielded high reliability of 0.83 for the scale. The results of the cross sectional study show an average KAP behaviors in the participants with strong association for knowledge and education (p <0.001).

The KAP behaviors were moderate despite the good educational status of the patients. The developed questionnaire is perceived to be beneficial in clinical settings and to self-evaluate the practices as a baseline measure of knowledge and management of the disease.