Development of an Allergen-Exposure Avoidance Scale and Inhaler Use Scale for Patients with Asthma: A Reliability and Construct Validity Study

OBJECTIVES: The present study aimed to evaluate the reliability of the allergen-exposure avoidance scale (AEAS) and inhaler use scale (IUS) in patients with asthma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present study was performed as a methodological design. The study included 130 patients with asthma. Each scale of allergen-exposure avoidance and inhaler use comprised 13 items. Cronbach's alpha and total item correlation were performed to calculate internal consistency of the scales, and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin, Bartlett's, and exploratory factor analysis tests were performed to assess construct validity. RESULTS: The Cronbach's alpha coefficients were 0.724 for IUS and 0.624 for AEAS. After exploratory factor analysis, the factors with eigenvalues >1.00 in the analysis (eigenvalues for IUS were 3.790, 1.793, and 1.789 and for AEAS were 2.990, 2.195, and 1.291) were considered. In the results of the analysis, three factors emerged in parallel with the theoretical structure. These three factors explained 52.087% of the total variance in IUS (29.151%, 13.790%, and 9.145%, respectively) and 53.960% of the total variance in AEAS (24.916%, 18.289%, and 10.754%, respectively). CONCLUSION: Inhaler use scale and AEAS were determined to be reliable and construct valid scales. They can be used to measure factors affecting the behavioral intentions toward individuals with asthma.