School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang, Gelugor, Malaysia.
Health and Safety Department, Dubai Municipality, Dubai, UAE.
PLoS One. 2022 Nov 10;17(11):e0276938. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0276938. eCollection 2022.
Falsified cosmetics are increasingly common especially online through social media networks and mobile applications.
This study developed and validated a novel tool to evaluate the safety of cosmetics and personal care products in the United Araba Emirates (UAE).
This is methodological validation study and the data were derived from a cross-sectional study conducted on students and staff at Ajman University (AU) in the UAE. The study sample was selected via simple random sampling. The link to the survey was sent to potential respondents via email, and the responses were analysed using SPSS version 26. Content validity, factor analysis, and known group validity were employed to construct and validate an instrument that will enable the identification of cosmetics safety. The instrument's reliability was evaluated using test-retest reliability, internal consistency, item internal consistency (IIC), and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs).
The study sample included 978 participants. The content validity index for the final 24-item scale was 0.84. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin value was 0.959 with a statistically significant Bartlett's test of sphericity (p <0.001). Factor analysis presented a three-component model. PCFA analysis found good fit values with 0.960 for the normed fit index, 0.977 for the comparative fit index, and 0.987 for the Tucker Lewis Index. All values were in excess of 0.95, and the root mean square error of approximation was below 0.06 (0.03); thus, the model had a good fit. Cronbach's alpha also showed good consistency of the overall instrument (0.963), and all factors had a Cronbach's alpha above 0.70. Each item on the instrument met the IIC correlation standard of ≥ 0.40, and there were good overall ICC statistics of 0.963 (0.959-0.966) for the instrument as a whole with statistical significance (p < 0.001). The instrument's test-retest reliability was assessed by correlating the respondents' identification scores at two time points with a four-week gap revealing a correlation coefficient of 0.870 (p-value <0.01). Participants holding a bachelor's degree were more likely to be able to identify safe and authentic cosmetics than those with a high-school educational level (p = 0.015).
This study developed a novel validated instrument to determine the safety of cosmetics. The final questionnaire uses 24 items on three dimensions (13 items on hazard information, eight items on product identity, and three items on product handling and storage). The tool is concise and easy to complete, and it is suitable for use among the general population. The use of this instrument can promote greater collaboration between the consumer health regulatory authorities and inspection authorities thus increasing consumer satisfaction and public participation.
伪造的化妆品越来越常见，尤其是通过社交媒体网络和移动应用程序在网上。
本研究开发并验证了一种新的工具，以评估阿拉伯联合酋长国（阿联酋）的化妆品和个人护理产品的安全性。
这是一项方法学验证研究，数据来自于在阿联酋阿治曼大学（AU）对学生和员工进行的横断面研究。通过简单随机抽样选择研究样本。通过电子邮件向潜在受访者发送调查链接，使用 SPSS 版本 26 分析调查结果。采用内容效度、因子分析和已知组有效性来构建和验证一种能够识别化妆品安全性的工具。使用重测信度、内部一致性、项目内部一致性（IIC）和组内相关系数（ICC）来评估工具的可靠性。
研究样本包括 978 名参与者。最终 24 项量表的内容效度指数为 0.84。Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin 值为 0.959，具有统计学意义的 Bartlett 球形检验（p <0.001）。因子分析呈现出三因素模型。PCFA 分析发现，规范拟合指数为 0.960，比较拟合指数为 0.977，Tucker Lewis 指数为 0.987，均达到 0.95 以上，逼近均方根误差低于 0.06（0.03），因此模型拟合良好。克朗巴赫的 alpha 也显示出整个工具的良好一致性（0.963），所有因子的克朗巴赫的 alpha 均高于 0.70。工具上的每个项目都符合 IIC 相关标准（≥0.40），并且工具的整体 ICC 统计数据具有良好的 0.963（0.959-0.966），具有统计学意义（p <0.001）。通过在两个时间点上比较参与者的识别分数，并与四周的差距进行相关，评估工具的重测信度，得出的相关系数为 0.870（p 值 <0.01）。与具有高中学历的参与者相比，拥有学士学位的参与者更有可能识别安全和真实的化妆品（p = 0.015）。
本研究开发了一种新的验证工具来确定化妆品的安全性。最终问卷使用三个维度的 24 个项目（危害信息 13 项，产品身份 8 项，产品处理和储存 3 项）。该工具简洁易用，适合一般人群使用。使用这种工具可以促进消费者健康监管机构和检查机构之间的更大合作，从而提高消费者满意度和公众参与度。
