Physicians' knowledge of the epidemiology, diagnosis, and management of otitis media: Design of a survey instrument

OBJECTIVE: To develop a survey instrument with good internal consistency and test-retest reliability to explore the level of knowledge among Nova Scotia family physicians concerning the risk factors, signs and symptoms, and treatment of otitis media and the use of pneumatic otoscopy. DESIGN: Prospective cohort design. SETTING: Fee-for-service family practices in Nova Scotia. PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample of 25 family physicians. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Test-retest reliability and internal consistency of the survey. RESULTS: The constructs including "signs and symptoms of otitis media with effusion" and "comprehensive knowledge scores" showed excellent internal consistency with Kuder-Richardson 20 scores greater than 0.7 whereas the construct "signs and symptoms of acute otitis media" has a Kuder-Richardson 20 score of 0.54 after deletion of several items. The Cohen ? and Spearman r tests showed the survey has very good test-retest reliability. CONCLUSION: The questionnaire that we developed proved to have very good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. We hope to use this questionnaire to explore the practice patterns of family physicians in managing otitis media disease.