Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected millions of people worldwide with far-reaching socio-economic implications in society. The adoption of preventive practices by the public remains the mainstay in reducing the spread of COVID-19 but there is a dearth of validated tools to assess such infection prevention practices related to pandemics. This study was conducted to develop and validate a questionnaire for the assessment of preventive practices against COVID-19 in the general population. It was done following a standardized protocol involving questionnaire development through literature review, focused group discussions, in-depth interviews, expert opinion, and pre-testing. This was followed by the validation of the questionnaire through a cross-sectional survey on 108 individuals from diverse backgrounds in New Delhi, India in July 2020. Exploratory factor analysis was used to evaluate construct validity. Internal consistency was assessed by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The developed questionnaire for assessing preventive practices consists of two sections: the first section of 18 items to evaluate preventive practices and the second section of 19 items for assessing various reasons for deficiencies in the preventive practices. The first section has good content validity (CVR=0.81 and S-CVI/Av =0.97) and internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha coefficient 0.82). Thus, this questionnaire is a valid and reliable tool for the comprehensive assessment of preventive practices and barriers related to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be useful in assessing the preparedness of the public and will be helpful to policymakers in designing appropriate interventions for protection against COVID-19.

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Objectives COVID-19 has affected thousands of health care workers worldwide. Suboptimal infection control practices have been identified as important risk factors. The objective of this study was to develop and validate a questionnaire to holistically assess the preventive practices of health care workers related to COVID-19 and identify the reasons for shortcomings therein. Methods The development of the questionnaire involved item generation through literature review, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with health care workers and experts, followed by validation through expert opinion, pilot testing and survey. A cross-sectional survey on 147 healthcare workers was done using an online platform and/or interviews in August 2020 in New Delhi, India. Exploratory factor analysis using principal component extraction with varimax rotation was performed to establish construct validity. Internal consistency of the tool was tested using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Results The developed questionnaire consists of two sections: Section A contains 29 items rated on a five-point Likert scale to assess preventive practices and Section B contains 27 semi-structured items to assess reasons for suboptimal practices. The first section has good validity (CVR = 0.87, S-CVI/Av = 0.978) and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha coefficient = 0.85) Conclusions This questionnaire is a valid and reliable tool for holistic assessment of preventive practices and barriers to it among health care workers. It will be useful to identify vulnerable practices and sections in health care settings which would assist policymakers in designing appropriate interventions for infection prevention and control. This will also be useful in future pandemics of similar nature.