Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jun 6:13:1593880.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1593880. eCollection 2025.

Validation of a questionnaire for assessing household vulnerability to climate change and health among small island communities

Raheel Nazakat  1 , Mohd Faiz Ibrahim  1 , Fadly Syah Arsad  2 , Noraishah Mohammad Sham  1 , Nik Muhammad Nizam Nik Hassan  1 , Nadia Mohamad  1 , Siti Aishah Rashid  1 , Wan Rozita Wan Mahiyuddin  3 , Rohaida Ismail  1
Affiliations

Validation of a questionnaire for assessing household vulnerability to climate change and health among small island communities

Raheel Nazakat et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Introduction: Small island communities in tropical regions are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. However, there is a lack of a comprehensive tool to assess their health vulnerability, particularly at the household level. This study addresses this gap by developing and validating a questionnaire to evaluate household vulnerability to climate change and health in these communities.

Materials and methods: The questionnaire was constructed in three phases: questionnaire development, validity assessment, and pilot testing. It was developed using a comprehensive framework that incorporated three key dimensions of vulnerability: exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity.

Results: Content validity, evaluated by a panel of experts, demonstrated excellent item-level and scale-level validity indices with S-CVI/UA and S-CVI/Ave of 0.89 and 0.98, respectively. Pilot testing conducted in Carey Island identified 13.5% of households as highly vulnerable. Key contributing factors include high exposure to drought and shoreline erosion, limited access to healthcare, insufficient financial resources, lack of elevated housing structures, and inadequate community engagement and adaptive behavior.

Discussion: The validated tool provides a reliable and context-specific instrument for identifying vulnerable households, enabling policymakers and practitioners to design tailored interventions. This tool provides a structured and evidence-based approach for assessing vulnerability, supporting more effective planning and resilience-building in small island communities facing climate-related health risks.

Keywords: environmental exposure; environmental justice; household resilience; survey instrument; susceptible population.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Development process of a climate change vulnerability assessment questionnaire for small island communities.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Climate change vulnerability assessment indicators based on exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Spatial distribution of household’s vulnerability to climate change in Kampung Melayu, Carey Island. (A) represents the map of Peninsular Malaysia with a red box marking the location of Carey Island, Selangor. (B) represents a zoomed-in map of Carey Island, showing the study site (Kg. Melayu) marked with a red circle. (C) represents a detailed map of Kg. Melayu shows individual households’ vulnerability levels.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Contributing factors of (A) exposure index, (B) sensitivity index, and (C) adaptive capacity index for climate change vulnerability assessment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Mycoo MA. Beyond 1.5 °C: vulnerabilities and adaptation strategies for Caribbean Small Island developing states. Reg Environ Chang. (2018) 18:2341–53. doi: 10.1007/s10113-017-1248-8, PMID: - DOI
    1. Scandurra G, Romano AA, Ronghi M, Carfora A. On the vulnerability of Small Island developing states: a dynamic analysis. Ecol Indic. (2018) 84:382–92. doi: 10.1016/J.ECOLIND.2017.09.016 - DOI
    1. Schneider SH, Semenov S, Patwardhan A, Burton I, Magadza CH, Oppenheimer M, et al. Assessing key vulnerabilities and the risk from climate change. Climate change 2007: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Contribution of working group II to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. (2007). Parry M.L., Canziani O.F., Palutikof J.P., Linden P.J., Hanson C.E., Eds., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK
    1. Nor Diana MI, Chamburi S, Mohd Raihan T, Nurul AA. Assessing local vulnerability to climate change by using livelihood vulnerability index: case study in Pahang region, Malaysia. IOP Conf Ser Mater Sci Eng. (2019) 506:012059. doi: 10.1088/1757-899X/506/1/012059 - DOI
    1. Ali MS, Hossen MB. Climate change vulnerability assessment: a case study of south west coastal Community of Bangladesh. Asian J Water Environ Poll. (2022) 19:25–32. doi: 10.3233/AJW220020 - DOI

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources