Development of a scale for measuring university students’ attitudes toward oral health

Yıl 2024, Cilt: 58 Sayı: 3, 108 - 119, 20.09.2024

Muhammet Fidan , Ceren Mutluer , Mustafa Fidan

https://doi.org/10.26650/eor.20241312721

Öz

Purpose: Valid and reliable scales which have been developed for assessing individuals’ attitudes toward oral health and are based on multiple theoretical views are limited in number in the literature. Hence, there is a need for more scale development studies for further evaluation of the psychometric properties of the oral and dental health attitudes of students. The aim of this study was to develop a scale for measuring college undergraduates’ attitudes toward oral and dental health.

Materials and Methods: A sample of 770 college undergraduates (241 male, 529 female) enrolled in various academic programs of three universities in Turkey participated in this study. We collected data from two separate samples. The data obtained from sample 1 (n = 470) were used for Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and the data from sample 2 (n = 300) were utilized for undertaking Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). To test the construct validity, EFA, CFA, convergent validity, and measurement invariance were used, respectively.

Results : In the first stage, EFA was conducted on a 48-item scale. EFA results showed that the final version of the Oral Health Attitude Scale (OHA-S) had a six-factor structure: sensitivity, importance, avoidance of harmful elements, tendency towards products and activities, awareness, and social impact. To confirm this structure, CFA was used. CFA results showed good model fit indexes. The final version of the scale consisted of 41 items with six factors. Moreover, Cronbach’s alpha and Spearman-Brown Split-Half coefficients showed a good level of reliability. Moreover, t-scores were statistically significant for 27% of the lower and upper groups.

Conclusion: The developed scale was found to be a potential tool for measuring and evaluating university students' attitudes toward oral and dental health.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Attitude, oral and dental health, scale development, university

Üniversite Öğrencilerinin Ağız Sağlığına Yönelik Tutumlarının Belirlenmesi için Ölçek Geliştirilmesi

Öz

Amaç: İlgili literatürde ağız sağlığına yönelik tutumu değerlendirmek için geliştirilen, çoklu teorik görüşlere dayanan geçerli ve güvenilir ölçekler sınırlı sayıdadır. Bu nedenle, öğrencilerin ağız ve diş sağlığına yönelik tutumların psikometrik özelliklerinin incelenmesine yönelik daha çok ölçek geliştirme çalışmasına ihtiyaç vardır. Mevcut araştırmanın amacı, üniversite öğrencilerinin ağız ve diş sağlığına yönelik tutumlarını ölçmek için geçerli ve güvenilir bir ölçme aracı geliştirmektir.

Gereç ve Yöntem: Araştırmaya Türkiye’deki üç üniversitenin çeşitli akademik programlarına kayıtlı 770 üniversite öğrencisi (241 erkek, 529 kadın) katılmıştır. Araştırmanın verileri iki ayrı örneklemden toplanmıştır. İlk örneklemden (n = 470) elde edilen veriler Açıklayıcı Faktör Analizi (AFA) için, ikinci örneklemden (n = 300) elde edilen veriler ise Doğrulayıcı Faktör Analizi (DFA) için kullanıldı. Ölçeğin yapı geçerliliğini test etmek için sırasıyla AFA, DFA, yakınsak geçerlilik ve ölçme değişmezliği kullanılmıştır.

Bulgular: İlk aşamada, 48 maddelik ölçek üzerinde AFA yapılmıştır. AFA sonuçları, Ağız Sağlığı Tutum Ölçeği›nin (AST-Ö) altı faktörlü bir yapıya sahip olduğunu göstermiştir: duyarlılık, önem, zararlı unsurlardan kaçınma, ürün ve faaliyetlere eğilim, farkındalık ve sosyal etki. Ölçeğin AFA sonucunda ortaya çıkan yapısını doğrulamak için DFA gerçekleştirilmiştir. DFA sonucunda elde edilen uyum indekslerinin kabul edilebilir olduğu görülmüştür. Ölçeğin son hali, altı faktörlü 41 maddeden oluşmaktadır. Ayrıca Cronbach’s alpha ve SpearmanBrown Split Half (yarıya bölme) değerleri iyi düzeyde güvenilirliğe sahip olduğunu göstermiştir. Ayrıca %27 alt-üst gruplar için t puanları istatistiksel olarak anlamlıdır.

Sonuç: Geliştirilen ölçeğin üniversite öğrencilerinin ağız ve diş sağlığına yönelik tutumlarını ölçmek ve değerlendirmek için potansiyel bir araç olduğu görülmüştür.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Tutum, ağız ve diş sağlığı, ölçek geliştirme, üniversite

Kaynakça

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