Validation of a questionnaire on patient awareness about hypercholesterolemia in community pharmacy / Validación de un cuestionario de conocimientos sobre hipercolesterolemia en la farmacia comunitaria

Interventions on health education in community pharmacy are very important to achieve a better compliance and a higher patient awareness about the illness.Objective: To design and validate a questionnaire on hypercholesterolemia awareness, which can be used in community pharmacy.Methods: A 16 items questionnaire grouped in 5 factors was designed and then administrated in 14 pharmacies in Pontevedra (Spain). Content validity was assessed through an expert panel, and construct validity was evaluated through a factor analysis. Questionnaire reliability was analyzed by internal consistence though a Cronbach alpha and test-retest reliability through intraclass coefficient (ICC).Results: 168 patients answered the questionnaire. Factor analysis confirmed the existence of 5 factors, which explain 60.96% of variance. Questionnaire Cronbach alpha was 0.82. Overall ICC was 0,87. Average score for the questionnaire was 1.87 (SD=3.43). Spearman correlation coefficients show association between age and education with obtained score.Conclusions: Validation of the present questionnaire provides the pharmacist with a useful tool to be used in health education strategies in community pharmacy. Illness awareness can be considered as insufficient.