Tuğçe Koyuncu

Validity and reliability of menopause attitude assessment scale: a study in women aged 40-64 in Eskisehir-Mahmudiye -

Background: According to studies, related to symptoms of menopause, women’s attitudes about menopause is an effective variable on the frequency and severity of menopausal symptoms. The most common method to assess attitudes about menopause is the attitude scale. The main purpose of the study is to expose reliability and validity of “menopause attitudes assessment scale” developed for assessing attitudes of menopause on middle age women. Methods: This is a methodological study conducted 8-15 November 2013 on middle age women living in the district center of Mahmudiye. In the first of the two stage s of the study, items pool was generated and items were assessed by experts for content validity. In the second stages, exploratory factor analysis was performed for construct validity and Cronbach alpha (Cra) was calculated for reliability analysis. Result: According to the factor analysis, items, whose factor loadings were less than 0.40, were removed from the scale. The remaining 13 items were classified into four factors. Four factors explain 61.82% of variance. Factors were named as positive emotional, negative emotional, family relationships, behavioral. For this scale, which is consists of 13 items, Cra is 0.744. Factors’ Cra are between 0.682 to 0.828. Conclusion: According to the results of validity and reliability study, Menopause Attitude Assessment Scale, which is consists of 13 items and four subscales, was found to be suitable to measure middle-aged women’s attitudes about menopau se.