Knowledge, Awareness, and Practice of Safety and Emergency Response Among Scuba Divers in Malaysia: Questionnaire Development and Validation
Introduction: Safety has become paramount to ensure that scuba diving continues to expand into new markets, with minimal risks, and that scuba diving translates into a safe and relaxed adventure in response to growing market demands. Research focusing on assessing the knowledge, awareness, and pract...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Springer Nature
2024
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| Online Access: | http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/41393/ http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/41393/1/Knowledge%2C%20Awareness%2C%20and%20Practice%20of%20Safety%20and%20Emergency%20Response%20Among%20Scuba%20Divers%20in%20Malaysia%20-%20Questionnaire%20Development%20and%20Validation.pdf |
| _version_ | 1848826323012681728 |
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| author | Aladin, Muhammad Wan Mohd Zahiruddin, Wan Mohammad Siti Rabiatull Aisha, Idris Ahmad Filza, Ismail |
| author_facet | Aladin, Muhammad Wan Mohd Zahiruddin, Wan Mohammad Siti Rabiatull Aisha, Idris Ahmad Filza, Ismail |
| author_sort | Aladin, Muhammad |
| building | UMP Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Introduction: Safety has become paramount to ensure that scuba diving continues to expand into new markets, with minimal risks, and that scuba diving translates into a safe and relaxed adventure in response to growing market demands. Research focusing on assessing the knowledge, awareness, and practices (KAP) regarding safety and emergency response among scuba divers has been limited, and there is a need for validated assessment tools in this area.
Methods: This study involved 555 scuba divers in Malaysia, and the questionnaire underwent a thorough development and validation process, including content and face validity assessments, as well as exploratory factor analysis. The validation of the knowledge domain was conducted using Item Response Theory (IRT) analysis, while awareness and practice were validated through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA).
Results: The content validity of the instrument was confirmed, with all items scoring over 80% for Item Content Validity Index (I-CVI), Scale Content Validity Index (S-CVI), and Scale Content Validity Index/Average (S-CVI/AVE). The initial draft comprises three domains: knowledge, awareness, and practice. Knowledge items were analyzed using IRT and demonstrated acceptable difficulty and discrimination levels. For the awareness and practice domains, EFA showed a Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure (KMO) of 0.83 and 0.79, respectively, with a significant Bartlett's test of Sphericity (P < 0.001). EFA yielded three factors for both awareness and practice domains with a total of 12 items for awareness and 13 items for practice, with satisfactory factor loadings (≥0.3). The final model of CFA showed good fits for both awareness and practice domains in terms of absolute, parsimonious, and comparative measures. The composite reliability of awareness was acceptable with Raykov's rho of 0.71, whereas the practice domain fell slightly below the acceptable threshold at 0.55. This was attributed to low factor loading and a limited number of items within each factor. The final questionnaire now consists of 20 items for knowledge, 10 items for awareness, and 12 items for the practice domain.
Conclusion: The results of this validation and reliability study indicate that the newly developed questionnaire possesses favorable psychometric properties for assessing KAP related to safety and emergency response in the scuba diving context. This research is essential for harmonizing the perspectives of crucial stakeholders within the recreational scuba diving industry. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T03:42:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | ump-41393 |
| institution | Universiti Malaysia Pahang |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T03:42:59Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publisher | Springer Nature |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | ump-413932024-05-24T07:21:14Z http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/41393/ Knowledge, Awareness, and Practice of Safety and Emergency Response Among Scuba Divers in Malaysia: Questionnaire Development and Validation Aladin, Muhammad Wan Mohd Zahiruddin, Wan Mohammad Siti Rabiatull Aisha, Idris Ahmad Filza, Ismail TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery TL Motor vehicles. Aeronautics. Astronautics Introduction: Safety has become paramount to ensure that scuba diving continues to expand into new markets, with minimal risks, and that scuba diving translates into a safe and relaxed adventure in response to growing market demands. Research focusing on assessing the knowledge, awareness, and practices (KAP) regarding safety and emergency response among scuba divers has been limited, and there is a need for validated assessment tools in this area. Methods: This study involved 555 scuba divers in Malaysia, and the questionnaire underwent a thorough development and validation process, including content and face validity assessments, as well as exploratory factor analysis. The validation of the knowledge domain was conducted using Item Response Theory (IRT) analysis, while awareness and practice were validated through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA). Results: The content validity of the instrument was confirmed, with all items scoring over 80% for Item Content Validity Index (I-CVI), Scale Content Validity Index (S-CVI), and Scale Content Validity Index/Average (S-CVI/AVE). The initial draft comprises three domains: knowledge, awareness, and practice. Knowledge items were analyzed using IRT and demonstrated acceptable difficulty and discrimination levels. For the awareness and practice domains, EFA showed a Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure (KMO) of 0.83 and 0.79, respectively, with a significant Bartlett's test of Sphericity (P < 0.001). EFA yielded three factors for both awareness and practice domains with a total of 12 items for awareness and 13 items for practice, with satisfactory factor loadings (≥0.3). The final model of CFA showed good fits for both awareness and practice domains in terms of absolute, parsimonious, and comparative measures. The composite reliability of awareness was acceptable with Raykov's rho of 0.71, whereas the practice domain fell slightly below the acceptable threshold at 0.55. This was attributed to low factor loading and a limited number of items within each factor. The final questionnaire now consists of 20 items for knowledge, 10 items for awareness, and 12 items for the practice domain. Conclusion: The results of this validation and reliability study indicate that the newly developed questionnaire possesses favorable psychometric properties for assessing KAP related to safety and emergency response in the scuba diving context. This research is essential for harmonizing the perspectives of crucial stakeholders within the recreational scuba diving industry. Springer Nature 2024 Article PeerReviewed pdf en cc_by_4 http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/41393/1/Knowledge%2C%20Awareness%2C%20and%20Practice%20of%20Safety%20and%20Emergency%20Response%20Among%20Scuba%20Divers%20in%20Malaysia%20-%20Questionnaire%20Development%20and%20Validation.pdf Aladin, Muhammad and Wan Mohd Zahiruddin, Wan Mohammad and Siti Rabiatull Aisha, Idris and Ahmad Filza, Ismail (2024) Knowledge, Awareness, and Practice of Safety and Emergency Response Among Scuba Divers in Malaysia: Questionnaire Development and Validation. Cureus, 16 (2). pp. 1-16. ISSN 2168-8184. (Published) https://www.cureus.com/articles/221820-knowledge-awareness-and-practice-of-safety-and-emergency-response-among-scuba-divers-in-malaysia-questionnaire-development-and-validation?score_article=true#!/authors 10.7759/cureus.53521 |
| spellingShingle | TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery TL Motor vehicles. Aeronautics. Astronautics Aladin, Muhammad Wan Mohd Zahiruddin, Wan Mohammad Siti Rabiatull Aisha, Idris Ahmad Filza, Ismail Knowledge, Awareness, and Practice of Safety and Emergency Response Among Scuba Divers in Malaysia: Questionnaire Development and Validation |
| title | Knowledge, Awareness, and Practice of Safety and Emergency Response Among Scuba Divers in Malaysia: Questionnaire Development and Validation |
| title_full | Knowledge, Awareness, and Practice of Safety and Emergency Response Among Scuba Divers in Malaysia: Questionnaire Development and Validation |
| title_fullStr | Knowledge, Awareness, and Practice of Safety and Emergency Response Among Scuba Divers in Malaysia: Questionnaire Development and Validation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Knowledge, Awareness, and Practice of Safety and Emergency Response Among Scuba Divers in Malaysia: Questionnaire Development and Validation |
| title_short | Knowledge, Awareness, and Practice of Safety and Emergency Response Among Scuba Divers in Malaysia: Questionnaire Development and Validation |
| title_sort | knowledge, awareness, and practice of safety and emergency response among scuba divers in malaysia: questionnaire development and validation |
| topic | TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery TL Motor vehicles. Aeronautics. Astronautics |
| url | http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/41393/ http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/41393/ http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/41393/ http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/41393/1/Knowledge%2C%20Awareness%2C%20and%20Practice%20of%20Safety%20and%20Emergency%20Response%20Among%20Scuba%20Divers%20in%20Malaysia%20-%20Questionnaire%20Development%20and%20Validation.pdf |