Introduction:

Chagas disease is highly endemic in Colombia and considered to be a public health problem due to its morbidity and mortality. Learning about community perception of this disease is relevant to devise timely strategies for its prevention.

Objective:

Evaluate the reliability and validity of an instrument to measure knowledge, attitudes and practices in response to Chagas disease in endemic communities.

Methods:

A cross-sectional study was conducted to validate the content of a tool based on the literature and assessed by an expert panel to determine the efficiency, relevance, clarity, and coherence of each of its items. Determination was made of Randolph's kappa index to evaluate agreement. Then it was applied to 135 people from endemic areas and Cronbach's alpha was established to determine internal consistency.

Results:

The tool studied showed agreement by Randolph's index with a kappa between 0.7 and 0.8 for the items evaluated and a Cronbach's alpha of 0.855, denoting appropriate consistency. The questionnaire was finally structured with a total 27 items addressing epidemiological factors and knowledge about the disease as well as attitudes and practices in response to it.

Conclusions:

The tool has an adequate level of internal consistency and agreement, which makes its application advisable in endemic areas with populations at risk of acquiring Chagas disease.

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