Development and Validation of a Cancer AwarenessQuestionnaire for Malaysian Undergraduate Students ofChinese Ethnicity

Abstract

<br/><b>Objectives</b>: To describe the development and validation of a cancer awareness questionnaire (CAQ) based ona literature review of previous studies, focusing on cancer awareness and prevention. Materials and <br/><b>Methods</b>: Atotal of 388 Chinese undergraduate students in a private university in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, were recruitedto evaluate the developed self-administered questionnaire. The CAQ consisted of four sections: awareness ofcancer warning signs and screening tests; knowledge of cancer risk factors; barriers in seeking medical advice;and attitudes towards cancer and cancer prevention. The questionnaire was evaluated for construct validityusing principal component analysis and internal consistency using Cronbach’s alpha (α) coefficient. Test-retestreliability was assessed with a 10-14 days interval and measured using Pearson product-moment correlation.<br/><b>Results</b>: The initial 77-item CAQ was reduced to 63 items, with satisfactory construct validity, and a high totalinternal consistency (Cronbach’s α=0.77). A total of 143 students completed the questionnaire for the test-retestreliability obtaining a correlation of 0.72 (p<0.001) overall. <br/><b>Conclusions</b>: The CAQ could provide a reliableand valid measure that can be used to assess cancer awareness among local Chinese undergraduate students.However, further studies among students from different backgrounds (e.g. ethnicity) are required in order tofacilitate the use of the cancer awareness questionnaire among all university students.