Background According to the Psychometric Paradigm with the appropriate design of instruments, risk perception can be measured; only ‘The Perception of Risk Scale’ in English, was found about this theme. The aim of this study was to develop and pilot test the validation of an instrument ‘Parents’ Risk Perception about Children’s Injuries’, in Spanish.

Methods Comprised on a series of steps: 1. Literature review of the theme and previous instruments. 2. Initial development of items. 3. Application of Content Validity Analysis (CVI) (McGartland, et al., 2003). 4. Final proposal of instrument, 102 items, in 12 dimensions some with sub-dimensions. 5. Cronbach’s Alpha sample calculation, for the development of a new scale is acceptable a range of 24 to 36 participants (Johanson & Brooks, 2010). 6. Definition of sample population and criteria. 7. Design of the instrument, created for an optic reader. 8. Application of the instrument and consent form. 9. Data analysis, on Excel 2010 and SPSS 19.

Results The CVI sample was five professional and five lay experts, results meet the values for new instruments with CVI=0.911. For Cronbach’s Alpha, the sample consisted on 15 mothers and 14 fathers with at least one children under 16 years old, obtained by convenience. The result for the whole instrument was α=0.894. After eliminating 18 items, α=0.901; leaving the instrument with 84 items.

Discussion For reducing the scale and making it more convenient, using the Spearman-Brown prophecy, assuming that the quality of the questions is the same, the instrument is reduced to 42 items and the Cronbach’s Alpha falls to an acceptable level of α=0.82.

Conclusion The scale was not validated, only an exploratory study was developed, the next step would be to redesign and apply again a pilot test, if successful continue with validation.