OBJECTIVES: An appreciable knowledge, attitude and practice of medication disposal are of utmost importance to ensure safe discarding of pharmaceuticals. Due to the scarcity of appropriate questionnaire to address these parameters development of such a questionnaire is a necessity. This study aims at development, validation and assessment of validation of such a questionnaire.

METHODS: Based on a pilot study conducted in a group of 20 randomly selected individuals, Drug Disposal Questionnaire- Knowledge Attitude Practice 16 (DDQ-KAP 16) was fabricated. Face and content validation of the tool was performed by a team of 10 multi- disciplinary experts. Reliability of the questionnaire was checked using Cronbach’s alpha for discrete data and Intra-class correlation for continuous data using SPSS software version 20.0. Selection of educational interventions and services were done based on literature review, considering their effectiveness, public’s preferences, practicality in the stipulated time and affordability.

RESULTS: The questionnaire consist 5 knowledge questions, 6 attitude questions and 5 practice questions. All the items in the questionnaire were deemed necessary to achieve the aim of the study. Cronbach’s alpha for individual questions was found to fall in the range (0.669- 0.825) with an average value of 0.863. Intra-class correlation for individual questions was found to fall in the range (0.656- 0.876) with an average value of 0.727.

CONCLUSIONS: DDQ-KAP 16 was found to be a prompt and easily understandable. The reliability of the questionnaire was found to be good. This questionnaire can be adopted for further use to evaluate the parameters responsible for proper drug disposal. Predictive validity can be done in the future to compare this questionnaire with existing ones.

KEYWORDS: Development and validation of questionnaire, drug disposal education, drop boxes