Reliability of an adult respiratory symptom questionnaire in a community located near a mine dump in South Africa: pilot study

Abstract

Background: Pretesting a questionnaire is an important activity before the start of the main epidemiological study. Aim: The study tested the reliability (internal consistency) of the modified ATS-DLD-78 adult respiratory diseases questionnaire developed by the British Medical Research Council. Results: The questionnaire was found to be reliable and admissible with an overall Cronbach's alpha coefficient of α = 0.74. Conclusion: The questionnaire is a reliable instrument for data collection and can be a useful tool for collecting data in a developing country. The questionnaire will be used to study the association between respiratory and cardiovascular diseases among older people and community's proximity to mine dumps.