02871naa a2200241 a 450000100080000000500110000800800410001902200140006002400410007410000190011524501790013426000090031350004220032252016180074465000120236265300160237465300240239070000200241470000250243470000200245970000140247977301360249310626472022-01-20       2022    bl uuuu     u00u1 u    #d  a0167-58777 a10.1016/j.prevetmed.2022.1055762DOI1 aMIRABALLES, C.  aDesign and analysis of a structured questionnaire to assess the probability of elimination of Rhipicephalus microplus from farms in a subtropical area.h[electronic resource]  c2022  aArticle history: Received 18 October 2021; Received in revised form 1 January 2022; Accepted 4 January 2022; Available online 8 January 2022. Corresponding author:   Dohoo, I.; University of Prince Edwards Island, 550 University Ave, Charlottetown, Canada; email:dohoo@upei.ca  --   This research received funds from the National Agency for Research and Innovation (ANII) (Uruguay) , with code MOV_IDRC_2018_2_153357.  aABSTRACT. - In areas in which R. microplus may be eliminated from farms, it is essential to evaluate the infestation situation and the biosecurity measures available when deciding whether or not to undertake an elimination effort. Multiple questionnaires have been developed to evaluate the cattle tick situation on farms, however, the validity of those questionnaires has not been evaluated. This study aimed to develop a standardized and validated questionnaire to estimate the likelihood of cattle tick elimination from farms. A list of items (topics) to be covered was sent to 25 experts for their evaluation, with 11 responding. Based on the selected items, thirty-five closed questions were developed and evaluated through a cognitive interview process with 8 veterinarians and 5 farmers. Subsequently, a focus group evaluation was carried out with 30 farmers and a pretest of the revised questionnaire was performed with 94 farmers. A test, re-test evaluation was carried out in a subset of the pretest respondents after two-weeks. The questionnaire took approximately 10 min to complete. The ability of the questionnaire to reliably produce a score reflecting the expected probability of a farm eliminating ticks was evaluated through the use of a two-parameter logistic item-response theory model. A subset of questions related to a unidimensional latent variable were identified. This set of items appeared to have good ability to predict which farms were more likely to achieve the elimination, although the evaluation of that predictive ability was beyond the scope of this work. © 2022 Elsevier B.V.  aURUGUAY  aCattle tick  aCognitive interview1 aRIET-CORREA, F.1 aDE FREITAS DAUDT, G.1 aPASTERNAK, L.G.1 aDOHOO, I.  tPreventive Veterinary Medicine, March 2022, Volume 200, Article number 105576. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prevetmed.2022.105576