Abourashed, AyatBest, Pauline A. deDoornekamp, LauraSikkema, Reina S.van Gorp, Eric C. M.Timen, AuraBartumeus, FredericPalmer, John R. B.Koopmans, Marion P. G.2024-04-022024-04-022024Abourashed A, de Best PA, Doornekamp L, Sikkema RS, van Gorp ECM, Timen A, Bartumeus F, Palmer JRB, Koopmans MPG. Development and validation of the MosquitoWise survey to assess perceptions towards mosquitoes and mosquito-borne viruses in Europe. Sci Rep. 2024;14(1):1777. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-52219-92045-2322http://hdl.handle.net/10230/59613Due to climate change and the expanding geographical ranges of key mosquito species, several mosquito-borne viruses (MBVs) have recently emerged in Europe. Understanding people’s perceptions and behaviours towards these viruses and the mosquitoes capable of transmitting them is crucial for implementing efective prevention measures and targeted communication campaigns. However, there is currently no appropriate validated survey for European populations to assess this. This study developed and validated a standardized survey, based on the Health Belief Model (HBM), to assess perceptions of mosquitoes and MBVs among Europe’s residents. The survey was distributed online to United Kingdom (UK), Dutch and Spanish participants through panel providers. Survey validity and reliability were tested using confrmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Cronbach’s alpha. The optimised survey was completed by 336 UK, 438 Dutch and 475 Spanish residents, respectively, and the HBM items passed our validity and reliability testing in all three countries. The fnal survey has 57 questions, including 19 validated HBM items, and questions to assess demographic characteristics, knowledge, prevention measures and behavioural determinants. Our MosquitoWise survey bridges researchers’ understandings of European residents’ perceptions and knowledge as a frst step to improve preventive behaviour towards mosquitoes and MBVs and guide prevention and communication initiatives.application/pdfengThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.Política sanitàriainfo:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-52219-9info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess