Development of 6-12 years-old child sleep habits scale and investigation of its psychometric properties.

Abstract

Background: Sleep and sleep habits in children are important in terms of bio-psycho-social aspects. The aim of this research was to develop a new scale under the name of the evaluation of sleep and sleep habits of children aged 6-12. 600 children aged 6-12 years constituted the sample of the study.

Methods: The parents of the children were asked to answer the question list in the sleep habits scale of 6-12-year-old children, in which sleep and sleep habits were evaluated, which was formed by the socio-demographic information from an expert opinion by the research team. To examine the reliability of the scale based on internal consistency, Cronbach and Omega alpha coefficients were calculated, and test-retest analysis and criterion validity were performed to determine the stability of the scale and whether it could make consistent measurements over time.

Results: In the correlation coefficient used as a test-retest reliability method, there were moderate and high levels of positive and significant correlations between the scores obtained from the first and second applications. According to the criterion validity findings, a moderately positive and significant relationship was found between the scores obtained from the overall sleep habits scale and the scores obtained from the overall child sleep habits questionnaire (r = 0.61; p < 0.01).

Conclusion: These results showed that the 6-12 age child sleep habits scale, which is a parent-reported scale, is a valid and reliable new scale that can evaluate sleep and sleep habits of children and screen for potential sleep problems.