TY - JOUR AU - McClain, Jacquelyn AU - Bernhardt, Jay AU - Beach, Michael T1 - Assessing Parents' Perception of Children's Risk for Recreational Water Illnesses T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2005 VL - 11 IS - 5 SP - 670 SN - 1080-6059 AB - Understanding people's risk perceptions and motivations to adopt preventive behavior is important in preventing the spread of recreational water illnesses (RWI) and other emerging infectious diseases. We developed a comprehensive scale measuring parents' perceived risk of their children contracting RWI. Parents (N = 263) completed a self-administered questionnaire with scale items based on 4 constructs of the Protection Motivation Theory: perceived vulnerability, perceived severity, response efficacy, and self-efficacy. Exploratory factor analysis identified 7 underlying factors, indicating 7 subscales of perceived risk for RWI. Cronbach α ranged from 0.60 to 0.81. The Precaution Adoption Process Model supported scale construct validity. This study provides the first perceived risk scale for exploring psychosocial factors that may predict or mediate the adoption of behaviors that prevent the spread of infectious diseases contracted by children while swimming. Findings from this study also provide implications for encouraging preventive behavior against other emerging infectious diseases. KW - Communicable Diseases KW - Emerging KW - Risk Assessment KW - water KW - Recreation KW - Swimming KW - Parent KW - Infant KW - United States DO - 10.3201/eid1105.040779 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/11/5/04-0779_article ER - End of Reference