Validation and Reliability Study of The Turkish Version of The Health Services Access Scale

Background/aim: The aim of this study is to establish the Turkish validity and reliability of the Healthcare Access Scale and to determine whether perceptions of healthcare access vary according to demographic variables. Materials and methods: Data for the research were collected through surveys of 468 participants across Turkey. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted in the process of adapting the Healthcare Access Scale. In addition, t-tests and ANOVA tests were used to determine variations in access to healthcare according to demographic variables. The factors obtained from the exploratory factor analysis were confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis. The fit index values of the five-dimension health care access scale were found to be in the good fit range. Results: As a result of the difference analyses carried out, no significant differences were found in the perceptions of access to healthcare according to gender, age and educational level. However, various differences were observed between the groups in terms of the type of hospital services received, income level and frequency of hospital visits in the past year. In conclusion, this study makes a significant contribution to the literature by testing the appropriateness, validity and reliability of the Healthcare Access Scale. Conclusion: This study makes a significant contribution to the literature by testing the appropriateness, validity and reliability of the Healthcare Access Scale. Key words: Health Services, Health System, Validity and Reliability, Access to Health Services, Turkish Validity, Health