Abstract |
Background: The explosive development of computer science has also brought about the
increasing use of the internet in our daily lives. The internet is now the primary method of
information exchange worldwide. Its use, even to search for health-related information (HRI),
has become a common practice, especially by parents. However, the role of the Internet in
the search for information related to health issues creates a strong skepticism as, on the one
hand, it appears to serve, providing information that was not easily available in the past, and
on the other hand, it threatens with the risk of misinformation.
Objective: The aim of the present study is the translation, validation and pilot application of
the CHIRPI questionnaire (Children's Health Internet Research, Parental Inventory) in the
Greek language as a result of its use in a specific sample of parents in order to assess the
pronounced parental search on the Internet for information related to the health of their
children.
Methods: The translation, validation and pilot study of the questionnaire was done according
to the internationally recommended procedure. The translated questionnaire was validated
at the University General Hospital of Heraklion with non-random sample of parents of children
aged 0-10 years, admitted for hospitalization at the Pediatric Clinic. To calculate the internal
consistency of the questions, it was used the Chronbach's Alpha coefficient. Test-retest
reliability was measured by the intraclass correlation coefficient. Inter-rater reliability was
tested with the kappa index.
Results: It was found that all subscales had a Chronbach's Alpha coefficient >0.70 and the
reliability of the questionnaire was estimated at 0.91. The intraclass correlation coefficient
was found between 0.632-1.000 for the individual questions. The kappa index for inter-rater
reliability ranged from 0.615 to 1.00, thus showing significant to maximum reliability between
two repeated assessments of the same magnitude. The satisfactory reliability coefficients of
the scale made the transfer of the questionnaire to the Greek population acceptable. Finally,
people with a high educational level, at a rate of 92.7%, during their search on the internet,
are interested, even if rarely, in the possible causes of their child's illness, in contrast to people
with a lower educational level, who only 60 %, exhibits this behavior. (p<0.001).
Conclusion: The "Children's Health Internet Research, Parental Inventory - CHIRPI" Scale, as it
resulted from the translation, validation and pilot application of the questionnaire, is a
satisfactorily reliable and valid tool to assess the pronounced parental search on the Internet
for information related to the health of their children, aged 0-10, of the Greek-speaking
populations .
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