A New Scale for Evaluating Home Accidents: Home Accidents Awareness Scale for Mothers with 0-3-Year-Old Children

Abstract

Aim: There have been no national and international assessment tools for home accidents, and the majority of the studies evaluating the awareness of home accidents have been conducted using questionnaires. Methods: The study was conducted methodologically. A Home Accidents Awareness Scale for Mothers was developed by taking expert opinions in the item pool study, and a validity-reliability study was conducted after the preliminary application. The data were collected at Karaagac Family Health Centers in Turkey between July and October 2019. The population consisted of mothers who met the inclusion criteria and came to the family health center for any reason. The data were collected using a Demographic Information Form and the Home Accidents Awareness Scale for Mothers. Validity and reliability analyses were used to assess the data. Results: The home Accidents Awareness Scale for Mothers contains 55 items and four subscales (awareness of falls, burns, drowning and poisoning, cutting and drilling tool ınjuries). Items are rated using a 5-point Likert scale. The scale had an acceptable and high level of validity (alpha coefficient 0.968, item total correlation values; r=0.383-0.645) and reliability (discrimination; p=0.000<0.001, test-retest; r=0.990). Conclusion: This is a valid and reliable scale that can be used to evaluate the awareness of mothers with children aged 0-3 living in Turkish society about home accidents.