BACKGROUND: There is a lack of instruments which can be used to quantitatively assess school children's knowledge about medicine in different countries.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to validate the Danish translation of a school children's medicine knowledge questionnaire developed in Finland.

METHODS: A total of 685 children from 37 Danish elementary schools, aged 10-14 years, participated in a validation study. Test-retest and inter-rater reliability, as well as known-group-validity of the translated instrument were investigated. Significance level was set at P ≤ 0.05.

RESULTS: For test-retest reliability, Spearman r correlation coefficients for correct knowledge score between the two rounds was 0.433, P < 0.001. For inter-rater reliability, kappa for agreement in correct knowledge score ratings between the two raters was 0.202. For known-group validity, a multivariate linear regression model was run for correct knowledge scores, and it significantly explained 9.2% of variance (R square 0.092, P < 0.001). Gender, school grade and use of medicine for asthma were significant predictors in the model.

CONCLUSIONS: The translated questionnaire showed a fair test-retest and inter-rater reliability, as well as acceptable known-group validity. In order to be reliably used in further studies to evaluate school children's knowledge about medicine in Denmark, the methodic of knowledge scoring in the instrument is warranted.