Assessing Parents' Perception of Children's Risk for Recreational Water Illnesses

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Emerg Infect Dis
• Personal Author:
  McClain, Jacquelyn ; Bernhardt, Jay M. ; Beach, Michael J.
• Description:
  Understanding people's risk perceptions and motivations to adopt preventive behavior is important in preventing the spread of recreational water illnesses (RWI) and other emerging infectious diseases. We developed a comprehensive scale measuring parents' perceived risk of their children contracting RWI. Parents (N = 263) completed a self-administered questionnaire with scale items based on 4 constructs of the Protection Motivation Theory: perceived vulnerability, perceived severity, response efficacy, and self-efficacy. Exploratory factor analysis identified 7 underlying factors, indicating 7 subscales of perceived risk for RWI. Cronbach alpha ranged from 0.60 to 0.81. The Precaution Adoption Process Model supported scale construct validity. This study provides the first perceived risk scale for exploring psychosocial factors that may predict or mediate the adoption of behaviors that prevent the spread of infectious diseases contracted by children while swimming. Findings from this study also provide implications for encouraging preventive behavior against other emerging infectious diseases.
• Subjects:
  Adult Child Communicable Disease Control Data Collection Female Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice Humans Male Middle Aged Parents Questionnaires Research Risk Water Microbiology

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• Source:
  Emerg Infect Dis. 11(5):670-676.
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Volume:
  11
• Issue:
  5
• Collection(s):
  Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:44997e24131633e8c970e6b9b723cd1c3909ec1660fd95c5f5f68a499ba34f73
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/7831/cdc_7831_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 283.44 KB ]