Study for Development of Health Belief Scale Related to Lead Exposure

Abstract

Background/Aim: This methodological study was conducted to develop a health belief scale for lead exposure, and to analyze the validity and reliability of the scale. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out on 525 male workers applying to Ankara Occupational Diseases Hospital between February 1 and April 30, 2013. The Participant Information Form and the Health Belief Scale Related to Lead Exposure (HBSRLE) were used to collect data. Data content validity was analyzed with Law she technique by the experts of the subject, construct validity with factor analysis, and reliability with Cronbach's alpha coefficient and Spearman correlation analysis. Results: Construct validity analysis revealed that the scale was composed of six factors with factor loads ranging from .615 to .832 (p<0.05). Reliability analysis revealed that HBSRLE's Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient was .94 and sub-dimensions ranged from .81 to .94. Based on split-half reliability analysis, SpearmanBrown coefficient of the Scale was .740 and the Gutman SplitHalf Coefficient was .739 (p<0.05). Spearman correlation analysis showed that item-total score correlations (Rho) ranged from .233 to .868 (p<0.001). Discussionand Conclusions: As a result of validity and reliability analyses, it was found that HBSRLE, consisting of 33 items and six sub-dimensions, is a valid and reliable scale.