Development and psychometric evaluation of a health awareness scale for adolescents.

BACKGROUND

Adolescence is a critical developmental stage during which the foundations for lifelong health behaviors are laid. However, the literature reports a limited number of measurement tools that assess adolescents' health awareness in both cognitive and behavioral dimensions.

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to develop a scale for assessing health awareness in adolescents and to examine its psychometric properties.

METHODS

This study is a methodological research with a cross-sectional design. A total of 784 Turkish adolescents aged 14-18 participated in the study. The construct validity of the scale was assessed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA; n = 271) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA; n = 334) on two independent samples. The criterion validity of the scale was assessed through correlation analyses with the e-Health Literacy Scale, the Digital Health Literacy Scale, and the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents.

RESULTS

EFA yielded a two-factor structure consisting of 17 items. CFA results indicated that the model fit was acceptable (χ2/df = 2.026, RMSEA = 0.056, CFI = 0.965). The scale's internal consistency coefficients were found to be high (α = 0.842; ω = 0.840), and validity analyses supported the scale.

CONCLUSION

The psychometric evidence obtained from the measurements suggests that the Health Awareness Scale can serve as a valid and reliable instrument for assessing adolescent health awareness across cognitive and behavioral dimensions.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: The HAS can be used in pediatric nursing to evaluate adolescents' health awareness and promote preventive health practices.