Reliability and validity of a Malay-version questionnaire assessing knowledge of breastfeeding

Background: There is a need to identify the knowledge that mothers have about breastfeeding to help promote it. Therefore, it is important to develop a valid and reliable questionnaire to provide useful and comparable data about breastfeeding knowledge. The objectives of this study were to determine the reliability and validity of a Malay version of a questionnaire assessing breastfeeding knowledge and describe the breastfeeding knowledge level among respondents.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from 1 January to 31 May 2008 among female staff working at the Universiti Sains Malaysia Health Campus. A self-administered questionnaire containing 53 items assessing breastfeeding knowledge was given to respondents. The questions were adapted and modified from a breastfeeding questionnaire developed by a team of Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia paediatric nurses. Exploratory factor analysis, internal consistency reliability, and descriptive analysis of respondents’ knowledge were conducted.
Results: A total of 252 female staff participated in the study. Factor analysis constructed 10 domains of knowledge and excluded 6 items, leaving 47 items in the final questionnaire. Cronbach’s alpha of the final questionnaire was 0.77. Respondents’ lowest knowledge was on the practical aspects of breastfeeding.
Conclusion: The questionnaire is reliable and valid to assess the breastfeeding knowledge of Malaysian women.

Keywords
breastfeeding, knowledge, reliability and validity, questionnaires, medical sciences