Table 2.
Descriptive statistics for Hepatitis C virus knowledge items included in Principal Components Analysis (PCA)
| Number (percent) of responses | PCA loading | Role in final solution | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Item | Correct | Incorrect | Don’t know | ||
| You can catch hepatitis C by breathing air in a room if someone in the room has hepatitis C (F) | 486 (90.5) | 11 (2.1) | 40 (7.5) | NA | Omitted from PCA due to ceiling effect |
| Using a syringe used by someone else can put injectors at risk of becoming infected with hepatitis C (T) |
505 (94.0) | 9 (1.7) | 23 (4.3) | NA | Omitted from PCA due to ceiling effect |
| Injecting drugs is a risk factor for hepatitis C infection (T) | 495 (92.5) | 11 (2.1) | 29 (5.4) | NA | Omitted fromPCA due to ceiling effect |
| Which of these bodily fluids can transmit hepatitis C? BLOOD (T)* |
394 (73.2) | 106 (19.7) | 38 (7.1) | 0.023 | Omitted due to low loading |
| The word hepatitis means inflammation of the liver (T) | 237 (44.3) | 88 (16.5) | 210 (39.3) | 0.336 | Omitted due to low loading |
| There is a vaccine that can prevent people from getting infected with hepatitis C (F) | 243 (45.3) | 154 (28.7) | 140 (26.1) | 0.472 | Omitted due to moderate loading and overlap with Balfour scale |
| Hepatitis C can cause serious liver damage and even death (T) | 468 (87.3) | 11 (2.1) | 57 (10.6) | 0.606 | Omitted because it represents 2 distinct ideas; approaches 90% ceilingeffect |
| Sharing drug diluting water when injecting can put injectors at risk of becoming infected with hepatitis C (T) | 372 (70.0) | 55 (10.0) | 107 (20.0) | 0.876 | Retained in final scale |
| Sharing cottons when injecting can put injectors at risk of becoming infected with hepatitis C (T) | 410 (76.5) | 32 (6.0) | 94 (17.5) | 0.866 | Retained in final scale |
| Sharing water containers when injecting can put injectors at risk of becoming infected with hepatitis C (T) | 356 (66.3) | 66 (12.3) | 115 (21.4) | 0.843 | Retained in final scale |
| Sharing cookers when injecting can put injectors at risk of becoming infected with hepatitis C (T) | 400 (74.6) | 44 (8.2) | 94 (17.5) | 0.834 | Retained in final scale |
| Cleaning syringes with water killshepatitis C (F) | 461 (86.2) | 18 (3.4) | 56 (10.5) | 0.616 | Retained infinal scale |
Correct answers: T: true; F: false
NA: not applicable
*
Item asked about multiple bodily fluids; only blood was included in PCA Bolded items comprise final HCV Injection-Risk Knowledge Scale (HCV-IRKS)