Development of Psycho-Social Adaptation Scale for Refugee University Students

With the beginning of migration movements, universities, like the general structure of the society, have been affected by cultural diversity and have become a structure consisting of students with different cultural characteristics. In this context, the aim of this study is to develop a scale that can evaluate the psychosocial adaptation of refugee students in universities and to carry out validity and reliability studies of this scale. In line with this purpose, the ‘Psychosocial Adaptation Scale of Refugee University Students’ was developed with a 4-point Likert-type systematic process. While determining the sample of the study, 210 refugee university students were selected for exploratory factor analysis and 115 for confirmatory factor analysis. As a result of EFA, the final version of the Refugee University Students' Psychosocial Adaptation Scale consisted of a total of 13 items and three sub-dimensions: psychological, social and communication. Three factors with eigenvalues above 1.00 explained 61.332% of the total variance. As a result of CFA, model-data fit indices were found as χ²/df = 2.54, CFI= .90, GFI= .85, IFI= .90 and SRMR= .06. In the calculations made for the three sub-dimensions to test the reliability of the scale, Cronbach Alpha coefficients were found to be 0.83, 0.67 and 0.74, respectively. The analyses show that the developed scale is a reliable and valid measurement tool in determining the psychological and social adaptation levels of refugee students studying at universities