https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.20-0417

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ORCID iD

Edward Frongillo: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8265-9815

Document Type

Article

Subject Area(s)

Data Collection; Family Characteristics; Humans; Sensitivity and Specificity; Socioeconomic Factors; Surveys and Questionnaires; Water Insecurity; Water Supply

Abstract

We sought to determine whether a shortened version of the 12-item Household Water Insecurity Experiences (HWISE) Scale, which measures water insecurity equivalently in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), is valid for broad use. Using data from 9,261 households in 25 LMICs, subsets of candidate items were evaluated on their predictive accuracy, criterion validity, and sensitivity-specificity. A subset with items assessing "worry," "changing plans," "limited drinking water," and "inability to wash hands" because of problems with water (range: 0-12) were highly correlated with full HWISE Scale scores (correlation coefficient: 0.949-0.980) and introduced minimal additional error (root mean square error: 2.13-2.68). Criterion validity was demonstrated, and a cut point of ≥ 4 correctly classified more than 91% of households as water secure or insecure. The brief HWISE-4 can be used in LMICs to inform decisions about how to most effectively target resources and evaluate public health interventions.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.20-0417

Rights

© 2021 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

APA Citation

Young, S., Miller, J., Frongillo, E., Boateng, G., Jamaluddine, Z., & Neilands, T. (2021). Validity of a Four-Item Household Water Insecurity Experiences Scale for Assessing Water Issues Related to Health and Well-Being. The American Journal Of Tropical Medicine And Hygiene, 104(1), 391-394. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.20-0417

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